So as not to kill everyone's browser I'm splitting these up into parts. I'll link each part here as I go along.
Part I: The Entrance (You are here)
This past Friday I had the pleasure of attending the
Orange County Fair. All day. No I'm not kidding I took the day off just so I could stand in line before it opened. The first hour is free, but that honestly only saves you $12. It isn't the cost savings insomuch as I just like the fair. This is my yearly pilgrimage, one I've held for the past 6 years. This, due to my move at the end of August, will be my last. At least for a while. We'll see. What follows is a photo essay of my journey.
I start my day at about 10:50 am. Walking. I live close enough to the Fairground that I don't bother with parking. Which, by the end of the evening, is a good thing. I'm faced with this as a walk, though:
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| Across the street, looking at OCC |
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| Turning the Corner, OCC to the left |
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The Straightaway. It's like looking
down the barrel of a gun going
"I'm going to walk HOW FAR?" |
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Stone's Throw Distance. You can see
the entrance tent in the distance (Hint:
It's white!) |
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So as a I approach I realize that I'm cutting it close because HOLY SHIT THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE HERE! A good estimate would have been 10,000+ people in line, easy, for the opening hour. ([Edit] If the
Daily Pilot is to be believed it was 32k+ for the opening hour) I mean the tend you see in the distance is Green Gate (Blue is the main entrance). I had to walk halfway between Blue and Green before I found the start of the line, right in front of the
Pacific Amphitheatre. These shots are right outside.
The line for both Green and Blue gates converged there. Then they doubled back into and towards the ticket booth area, then back out again. By noon the line was literally 3 deep on each side: It snaked from the gate, to the ticket area, then back to the gate, then back towards the ticket area. Lord and lady knows if it went further as by the time I saw the third itiration of the line it was finally noon, which meant we were able to go in. It took no less than 10 minutes for everyone at my point to file in. That means by 12:10pm Friday the Fairgrounds looked like this:
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| It only got worse from here. |
Hands down this has to be the record setter for first day attendance, and if there's one for first hour attendance it was broken too.
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