Travels with Auntie M: September 2012

The world’s largest county fair.

With an attendance record of 1.5 million, it is the only county fair that can compete with the largest State Fairs.

In January 1945 the fairgrounds was used as a German and Italian prisoner of war camp, it closed in March of 1946.

And yes...it is very Californian:

Rob poses with The Blues Brothers

The first fair only ran for five days in October of 1922, in 2010 it became a 23 day event.

Loggers from Canada

The most realist exhibit we found was America’s Great Outdoors...it was like a walk in the woods.

Typical California Forest sign, except it’s most often pointing to the extreme level.

There was a display with several snakes and this Chuck-Walla:

At the Ranger table, TW got to identify animal skulls:

The Paul Cash Magic Show – Caring for the Land, was a cute show that brought home the importance of taking care of mother earth.

This small hill portion of the fair, really felt like being in the woods but as we left, I turned to see a city addition: Tire planters

Next we ran into some parrots.

Then, a Kookaburra bird from Australia.

And finally several cages with creepy, crawly things like these local scorpions…

…and a cute Green Iguana from Central America.

This fair felt less rural and more imitation, as there were several displays that looked like Hollywood sets.

The Pirate's Parrot Show was on a large ship shaped stage.

Very educational, teaching about being responsible pet owners.

Pets Ahoy...with a Pirate Dog Show.

The Frisbee started at the LA County Fair in 1955...and the dog disc sport got its start in LA in 1974.

The only seed art was these two images in the Flower Pavilion:

In true California style, there is a wine tasting bar in the garden.

A lagoon was constructed in 1935 and The Fair inaugurated its wine competition, which is today the longest-running county fair competition and one of the most prestigious in the nation.

Like the Texas State Fair, there is a large new car exhibition.

1937 Fine Arts Building constructed as part of the Works Progress Administration.

Inside:

The only 4-H reference I saw at the fair was this display/art piece about one woman’s experience titled 4-H Ain’t All Cows and Cookin’.

A California version of a petting zoo:

Stingray Island with a petting tank holding stingrays, sharks, eels, exotic fish, an octopus and seafood gardens.

A new exhibition hall - A Celebration of American Innovation.

Full scale replica of the Wright Brothers 1903 Wright Flyer, recreations of working laboratories of George Washington Carver and Thomas Edison.

Henry Ford created the assembly line technique of mass production:

Rob tries his hand on a Wright Flyer simulator…

literally, it was a one-hand device, up or down. However, it also had side boards for left-right balance.

Movie star Hedy Lamarr, invented a classified communications system using ever-changing radio frequencies that were then synchronized between transmitter and receiver.