2014 OC Fair Welcomes More Than 1.3 Million Fairgoers Distributes 435,000 Carnival Plushes & Devours 1,600 Pounds of Watermelon

Costa Mesa, Calif. (August 12, 2014) –1,337,167 Fairgoers proved that “Summer Starts Here” at the OC Fair. The 2014 OC Fair featured 23 days (July 11-August 10) of food, rides, exhibits, animals, music, action sports and fun. Here are some fun facts about the 2014 OC Fair:

Food at the 2014 OC Fair

• Biggy’s Meat Market dished out more than 5,000 pounds of its new gluten-free fries and 450 new gluten-free burgers.
• Chicken Charlie used 40,000 pounds of vegetable oil to fry up Doritos, Oreos, frog legs, zucchini strings and 5,000 pounds worth of chicken skin.
• Tasti Chips served up 30 tons of California-grown potatoes to Fairgoers, whose No. 1 topping choice was Jalapeno Cheese.
• Bacon A-Fair had Fairgoers porking out with 20,000 pounds of bacon which included 30,000 of the new Deep-Fried, Bacon-Wrapped Jack Daniels Churro, using 99 bottles of 1.75-liter Jack Daniels bottles.
• Grantburgers sold 1,290 of its award-winning Chile Relleno Burgers stacked with a fried chile relleno, hamburger patty, spicy chorizo patty, jalapeno jam, avocado, tomato and cheese in a soft pretzel bun.
• Terri’s Berries dipped more than a 2,300 marshmallows in chocolate in addition to lots of fresh fruit and other chocolate-covered treats.
• Old West Cinnamon Rolls in the Carnival of Products rolled up more than 3,300 feet of warm cinnamon rolls while the Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls in the Livestock Area poured more than 1,400 pounds of sweet cream cheese frosting over their rolls.
• The Orange County Wine Society had the wine flowing in The Wine Courtyard with more than 34,800 glasses of award-winning chardonnays, pinots, merlots, cabernets and more served to Fairgoers.
• Texas Donuts offered their warm, soft donuts almost any way a Fairgoer might want it and they liked it, consuming 9,000 Maple Bacon, 1,800 Pop Rocks, 1,710 Reese’s and 1,350 Banana Chocolate Cream donuts.

Savings at the 2014 OC Fair

• More than 446,800 Fairgoers got into the Fair for free or at a discount through the numerous special days, donation drives and coupons offered this year.
• The number of annual season passes to the Fair, Super Pass, increased by 11% this year with 13,875 passes purchased by avid Fairgoers.
• On the four We Care Wednesday donation drives, 67,281 participants donated more than 42 tons of canned food, 55,300 children’s books, 39,400 pounds of clothing and 160,000 school supplies.
• The OC Fair Express ridership was up 31 percent with more than 76,900 Fairgoers opting to leave their cars at the OCTA transit station for direct bus service to the Fair.

Fun at the 2014 OC Fair

• Toyota Summer Concert Series in the Pacific Amphitheatre was highlighted by sell-out nights with The Offspring / Adolescents, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo / Berlin / Madasen McGrath, Little Big Town / Sara Haze, Billy Currington / Lucy Hale and Lynyrd Skynyrd / Jeremiah Red plus two sold-out nights of Rebelution / Iration / The Green.
• The Hangar at the OC Fair offered wallet-friendly live entertainment that drew sold-out crowds for Journey Unauthorized – A Tribute to the Music of Journey, Zeppelin Live – A Live Rock Tribute to Led Zeppelin, The English Beat / The Debonaires, Strangelove – The Ultimate Tribute to Depeche Mode, Hotel California – A Salute to the Eagles, Rumours – The Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute Show, Common Kings / Tini Grey, Queen Nation – A Tribute to the Music of Queen, Dead Man’s Party – The Oingo Boingo Tribute and Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez.
• Action Sports Arena at the OC Fair welcomed standing-room-only crowds at all five nights of demolition derby (Orange Crush, Motor Home and Damsels of Destruction)
• In the Carnival, 60,000 daredevils came on Wednesdays and Thursdays for the $30 Unlimited Ride Wristband special. Throughout the run of Fair, the top rides were La Grande Wheel, Sky Ride, Crazy Coaster, Wild River and Rave Wave. 435,000 colorful and furry plushes were carried out under arms, on shoulders and even on top of heads. The Despicable Me minions and unicorn were the most requested prize by skilled Fairgoers.
• It was a gobblin’ good time the last week of the Fair as the new Wild West Turkey Stampede thrilled Fairgoers with its hilarious mix of agricultural education and entertainment. The feathered stars of the show raced around the small track after the tasty kernels in the remote-controlled Big Red truck to sold out crowds through their 5-day appearance.

Exhibits & Competitive Spirit at the 2014 OC Fair

• More than 10,000 award ribbons were won by Fairgoers for baking, photography, painting, woodworking, quilting, gardening, livestock and on-the-spot contests. This year the Fair offered 2,054 unique competitions for a Fairgoer to showcase their talent.
• More than 7,800 feet of table covers and 28,200 feet of drapery were used for competition galleries, shopping halls and more throughout the Fair.
• In the Visual Arts Gallery, more than 487 halogen lights and nearly 400 walls were used to display award-winning artwork.
• The Garden & Floral competition saw nearly 1,000 tomatoes entered this year which could make nearly 40 bottles of ketchup plus a 300-pound pumpkin which could make 100 pumpkin pies.
• In the Special Culinary Contests held on Saturdays, Fairgoers entered 260 cupcakes, 63 bowls of chili, 35 chicken wings and 95 salsas to be judged in the only live culinary arts competitions.
• The 60 entries in the Table-Settings Competition featured 300 individual and correctly placed pieces of silverware.
• In the annual Jr. Livestock Auction held on July 19, youth competitors earned more than $255,000 in auction sales and add-ons.
• In the new Bakeology exhibit, Blackmarket Bakery used more than 230 pounds of sugar and flour and 360 eggs for their daily demonstration.
• More than 1,650 pounds of watermelon were scarfed down for an award ribbon during a free nightly eating contest.
• The most common entry in the Collections competition was watches and clocks while the strangest was a collection of found papers include notes, lists and flyers found in random places.
• 343 arthropods called the Explorium tent home as part of the new The Good, The Bad & The Unbelievable exhibit.

Memories at the 2014 OC Fair

• The Centennial Farm welcomed 19 piglets this year.
• Some 5,600 individual dancers, singers, comedians and performers had a moment to shine on one of the Fair’s free community entertainment stages.
• The National Anthem was proudly sung 35 times during the run of the Fair.
• More than 3.5 tons of clay were molded into beautiful bowls, cups and more during the daily free ceramics demonstrations in Crafters Village.
• More than 4,300 Fairgoers willingly took a seat in the Pitchburst activity in the Explorium area, only to be drenched by water balloons.
• This year the OC Fair offered Fairgoers two new Fair Foodies to take home as soft toys and Fairgoers snatched up all the supplies of Slim the Bacon within the first three weeks of Fair.

The OC Fair is held annual at the OC Fair & Event Center, which is home to more than 100 events throughout the year. The OC Fair & Event Center is located off the 405 and 55 freeways at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa. For more information, please visit ocfair.com, become a fan at Facebook.com/OCFair, follow us at twitter.com/ocfair or call (714) 708-1500.