Farewell to the fair

For Bruce Long admiring his first place win in the Home Arts and Crafts tent was the perfect way to close out the 2007 Orange County Fair. Although Long, 50, of Chino Hills spent the majority of his life down on the Eastside of town, he never entered anything in the fair before now.

His carving of a shark in redwood with polished abalone fins was so unique that fair organizers did not know under what category to submit it, so the piece went in woodworking under "other."

Next year Long plans on entering at least three of his pieces.

Many people scrambled in the gates for the fair's last day and possibly one more chance to watch a surfboard shaper at work, catch a glimpse of a newborn piglet, scarf that final fried Twinkie, or get one more whack at the towering Hucowamongous Burger.

As Long and his wife Marla took a minute to and view Bruce's win, they reminisced about the event they have been visiting since their childhood.

"I don't think it's changed a lot," Marla said. "Much of it has stayed the same.

"I'll tell you though the weird thing is, they're doing way too much with the fried foods these days."

A record-breaking overall attendance of 1,069,052 was reported at 6 p.m. Sunday, with six more hours of operations to go. This year's stats thrilled fair organizers as last year's numbers failed to surpass the set goal of one million visitors.

"Everything went right to plan," said Steve Beazley, the fair's senior vice president. "There was a great energy this year and a lot of factors contributing to that."

Things closed out with a number of returning favorites, such as the Peking Acrobats with their amazing displays of body twisting and gymnastics.

The Fiesta Del Charro Flying U Rodeo also packed the crowds into an outdoor arena for all sorts of bull riding and equestrian acrobatics.

Rocker Chris Cornell former frontman of '90s alternative band Soundgarden closed out the Pacific Amphitheatre's Lexus Summer Concert Series.

"It's like running a marathon," Beazley said. "It consumes all of your time and then all of the sudden the next day it's gone, like closing a small city."

To see photos of the Orange County Fair click here