It was “One Big Party” for the 2015 OC Fair, July 17-August 16, as it celebrated its 125th anniversary with 23 days of food, rides, shopping, exhibits and animals with 1,301,445 Fairgoers joining in on the festivities.
“With my first OC Fair on the books, I fully appreciate all of the hard work that goes into creating this exciting summer tradition for 125 years. From the Deep-Fried Slim Fast Bar to a cattle drive down Harbor Boulevard to the cute piglets and beautiful competitive entries, the OC Fair is an amazing summer tradition that I am proud to have shared with more than one million guests and staff,” said OC Fair & Event Center CEO Kathy Kramer, who was appointed in January.
Here are some interesting facts and figures from the 2015 OC Fair’s One Big Party:
Food at the 2015 OC Fair
- With 15,000 Deep-Fried Coffee balls consumed from Bacon A-Fair and its sister stand Mexican Funnel Cakes / Apple Fries, Fairgoers were well-caffeinated for summer fun.
- Chicken Charlie sold 26 Caviar Twinkies for $125 each as part of the OC Fair’s 125th celebration. Proceeds benefit the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). He also sold 10,000 Deep-Fried Oreos, 5,000 Deep-Fried Slim Fast Bars, 10,000 deep-fried avocados, 3,500 fried Frog Legs and 11,000 Krispy Kreme Triple Donut Cheeseburgers.
- Tasti Chips prepared 38,000 pounds of freshly cut and fried-to-order potatoestopped with more than 500 pounds of parmesan cheese and 300 gallons of real cheese sauce.
- Bacon A-Fair lived up to its name by selling more than 420,000 pieces of bacon,chicken-fried or wrapped around Wasabi Bombs, turkey legs or hot dogs.
- Pickle O’ Pete’s served up 200 5-gallon buckets worth of pickle chips, 1,500 orders of Drunken Pickle Poppers and 800 inches of pickle-wrapped wieners on a stick.
- Pink’s Hot Dogs sold more than 19,700 hot dogs with at least 7,300 being their 2015 Best of the Fair winning Bam Hot Dog.
- Fried A Fair sold 20,000 Oreos and 1,000 12-inch cheesecakes as deep-fried treats.
- Biggys Meat Market sold 2,500 pounds of Bacon-Wrapped Pork Belly skewerswrapped in 1.25 miles of thick-cut honey bacon plus 600 gluten-free burgers and22,000 pounds of sausage.
- Texas Donuts sold 4,000 Maple Bacon Donuts.
- Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls used 4,500 pounds of cinnamon roll powder, 1,500 pounds of butter, 1,800 pounds of cinnamon sugar, 300 pounds of walnuts and1,400 pounds of cream cheese frosting.
- The carnivals, run by Ray Cammack Shows, used 18 pallets of sugar for pink and blue cotton candy and sweet lemonade.
More 2015 OC Fair Numbers
- On July 23, the Fair hosted 1,100 Special Olympics delegates from Aruba and Bahamas for a day of Fair fun.
- 78,896 riders took the OC Fair Express for a ride directly to the Fair from 9 transit locations. The service, managed by OCTA, cost $2 each way and also featured a coupon for discount Fair admission ($3) for each rider.
- Some 36,800 glasses of wine and 2,500 1-ounce taste of wines were poured in The Wine Courtyard.
- More than 58,000 people donated 36 tons of canned food, 56,223 children’s books, 45,885 pounds of clothing and hundreds of school supplies for the 2015 We CareWednesday donation drives.
- Two sows gave birth to 17 piglets in the Centennial Farm.
- There were 172 culinary demonstrations held in the OC Promenade on everything from cake decorating to beer-making and food preservation.
- The Fair’s interactive 125th anniversary exhibit, Share Your Fair, had nearly a hundred 30-second videos recorded by Fairgoers sharing their favorite Fair memory.
- The new Fairenheit 32° saw more than 10,500 Fairgoers lace up ice skates to take a cool cruise around an actual ice rink during the run of the Fair.
- 143,748 Fairgoers cooled off in the free Ice Museum that featured 90,000 pounds of ice sculpted by 6 carvers in 6 days. The ice after melted was used to water the grass and plants on the property. This year’s Ice Museum also became the first to have a successful marriage proposal happen inside of it.
- More than 4,300 crafty and creative people submitted some 16,700 paintings, jewelry, quilts, cakes, cookies, woodworking, photography, fruit, vegetables, livestock, homemade beer, commercial wine, memorabilia and more in the various OC Fair competitions.
- More than 1,470 coveted first place blue ribbons and more than $75,000 in prize money was won by talented Fairgoers.
- In its second year, the Brew Hee Haw at the OC Fair welcomed some 2,400 beer lovers for two days of craft beer tasting July 18-19.
posted by Andrea Gonzalez 8/18/15
