Thousands of people flocked to the Santa Cruz County Fair on Sunday to mark the 125-year-old event’s final day for 2010.
Thousands of people flocked to the Santa Cruz County Fair on Sunday to mark the 125-year-old event’s final day for 2010. Organizers say that more than 60,000 people may have attended the event, with well over 12,000 on Saturday alone. It was inevitable. After all, where else can you spend the day flitting between the Best Dressed Goat Contest, Pro-Wrestling Revolution and Belly Dance Basics? It was fun for the whole family, barnyard pets included.
Manager Michael Bethke says that about 10,000 people on average visited the weeklong event per day. “And we did it with only four full-time employees,” he adds. Among the most popular exhibits was the Santa Cruz County Railroad Historical Society Garden Railroad, with its six model trains. There were also old favorites, like the pie eating contest, and, for the romantically inclined, a pig kissing contest, which brought County Supervisor Mark Stone and Sheriff Phil Wowak out to express their fondness for bacon in its purest, pre-fried form.
The pie eating contest, however, may have had the greatest impact on fair-goers, and not just to their waistlines either. Sara Stern, 13, won the fair-themed competition of the Best Dressed Goat contest by masquerading as a pastry chef. Her pet goat, its dignity intact, strutted proudly by her side, dressed up as apple pie. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
