Rising Hopes : Blue Ribbons Are Goal in Fair’s Food Competitions

Pasadena lawyer Rosemary Grimm took a detour Thursday to see real bread on her way to Century City to handle a $6-million probate case.

She hurried to Pomona to see if her homemade honey whole wheat, cheese breads or other entries had won prizes in the 62nd annual Los Angeles County Fair, which opened Thursday for an 18-day run.

“I’m a little nervous,” said Grimm, who was among the first of what could be 1.4 million visitors to stream into the exposition that is billing itself this year as “America’s County Fair.”

Disappointed With a 5th Place

At the Home Arts Building, where 8,000 cakes, jars of canned fruits and other crafts were on display behind glass shelves, Grimm headed straight for the raspberry tea rings--her strongest entry. She was disappointed to see a fifth-place ribbon attached to the specialty bread that is similar to cinnamon rolls.

But on another shelf, her cheese bread was sitting atop a blue ribbon signifying it had won the $2.50 first-place prize.

Grimm, 45, breathed a sigh of relief.

“Baking is stress-relieving. It’s making a physical product with your hands instead of just talking or writing,” she said, now grinning. “Bread starts as just a lump, and you kneed it until it starts to feel alive, like flesh.”

Fair organizers say they expect some of the biggest draws this year will be the traditional midway rides, horse shows and agricultural exhibitions assembled around a 487-acre fairgrounds that has undergone a $11.5-million face lift in the last year.

Much of that money went to renovate exhibition buildings containing 1.5 million square feet of display space and to redesigned plazas that are lined by 250 food booths, officials say.

The fair will run through Oct. 1 and admission is $7 for adults, $4 for children ages 6-12 and $5.50 for senior citizens on weekdays.

The fair’s gates and buildings open at 10 a.m. Monday through Friday and at 9 a.m. on weekends. Closing time is 10 p.m. during the week, but the fair will remain open until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

The midway’s 85 rides include a 120-foot Ferris wheel and the stomach-churning Zipper thrill ride, along with more gentle rides such as paddle canoes for children.

Musical entertainment during the fair will include such acts as War, the Coasters, the Shirelles and Tower of Power. A circus performing in an 80-by-120-foot tent features a juggler who tosses a 130-pound table with his feet.

Horse racing fans can wager on daily pari-mutuel racing that features more than $4 million in total purses--the most lucrative in the 51 years that racing has been at the fair, according to James Priddy, director of racing at Fairplex Park.

Pig racing fans can watch the Rapid Razorback Pig Races that are staged several times a day, although no wagering is allowed.

Visitors with their own competitive spirit can enter more than 100 contests during the fair, said spokesman Sid Robinson. They include hog calling, ice cream eating, milk drinking, chili cooking and a mother-daughter look-alike competition.

Traditional exhibits, including prize-winning pigs, rabbits, sheep, goats and cows, will be on display in the agricultural area. Three livestock shows--for cattle, sheep and swine--will also be staged. The American International Cub Sheep Shearing contest will be conducted Sept. 29-30. In the Home Arts Building, some of those winning ribbons could scarcely contain their joy as they rushed between display cases looking for their handiwork.

“Oh, I won, I won!” exclaimed Doris Austin, 46, of Upland as she jumped up and down and clapped her hands in front of a varnished “bow-dazzler” basket decorated with cloth, five coats of varnish and a blue ribbon awarded by fair judges. “This is so exciting. I had a dream that I didn’t win anything.”

Logging Her Wins

Over by the pickles, Faye Jensen of Sylmar was logging the names of her canned vegetables and fruits that had won awards. She stopped counting when she found 11 of them wearing first-place ribbons.

“I’ve spent every spare minute I have canning. Every day,” said Jensen, 53. “But I feel lucky to have won anything. After all, this is the world’s largest county fair.”

Her husband, Henry Jensen, said it is too bad that there was not a category for one of his wife’s best dishes: spaghetti. “When we first got married, she wasn’t that good a cook,” he said. “I guess that’s what 36 years can do.”

Even those coming up empty-handed in the judging said they felt like winners when they saw their entries on display. Eileen Houchin, 41, of West Covina carefully framed her non-winning chocolate chip cake in her camera and took a picture of it through the display shelf glass.

“I feel very good,” Houchin said. “This is the first cake I’ve ever made. I’m going to do it again next year. Maybe next year my entry will win.”