Danny Visoso was one of the first ones in line Friday morning with the crowd of eager fairgoers waiting for the gates to open on the 2025 edition of the OC Fair.
“I wanted to spend time with my family and have a good summer with them,” Visoso said.
Visoso, 24, hadn’t been to the fair in more than a decade. After all those years waiting, how would he spend his day on the fairgrounds?
“Hopefully get on all the rides, because I know there’s going to be a lot of people coming in,” he said. “And get some good food.”
The 2025 OC Fair will run through Aug. 17 — it is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The 23-day event is expected to bring in more than a million guests. Daily attendence has been capped since the onset of the pandemic and popular days sell out each year.
New activities this year include an after-dark event at the Plaza Pacifica that will get people moving with swing dancing, Latin music and more on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
Read also: OC Fair 2025: Here’s what you need to know to pay, play and park
New attractions, food and stands, including Tom’s Puffs and Pie, the 180-foot-tall Aviator and an exhibit paying tribute to the VHS tape era featuring movie poster art, have also been added to the mix.
Each year, hundreds of residents submit entries to the fair’s competitions. Everything from quilts to cupcakes to table settings.
With a list of his family’s 20 entries, Long Beach resident and event planner Dan Smith Chavira rushed to the glass cases displaying the winning entries, searching for any blue ribbon wins. This is his second year submitting baked goods with his family. His niece had been perfecting her eight recipes for months, he said.
“This is the moment when you can first see the results,” Smith Chavira said. “So we doorbusted to see how we did.”
His Portuguese Focaccia, inspired by his Italian grandmother and Portuguese grandfather, won the focaccia class and an overall award for the artisan leavened bread division.
He turned in his focaccia earlier in the week, as well as his Yuzu bar that won an honorable mention in the citrus bar category. Smith Chavira says he only bakes for the OC Fair.
“I’m not a baker, but I’m a competitor,” he said. His focaccia beat out 24 other entries in his category, decided by a panel of 13 judges.
He was the only division winner in his family.
He called this year’s win a “redemption” after his “overdone” French onion focaccia garnered no accolades last year. This year, he told himself, “Don’t overcook it, slow down, cook to your skill level, and relax.”
Even without any entries in the competition, Anaheim couple LuAnn Hillman and Steve Rosco made an early stop in the OC Promenade hall to see the winners.
“We see all the talent that’s in Orange County. Look at these bakers and what they’ve done,” Hillman said.
They’ve been visiting the fair for more than 40 years. And each year, they go on the first day. They say it’s the best time to catch the food entries, “when everything’s fresh.”
“It’s beautiful,” Rosco added. “It’s not professional like when you go into a bakery, these are regular average people that have these incredible, wonderful talents.”
Standing next to his table setting, Orange resident and administrative manager Tim Wyckoff was approached by fans of his work from previous years. Wyckoff has been decorating table settings for more than 30 years.
This year, his table in the Tropical Paradise division won second place.
“I want to make people smile,” Wyckoff said. “Since I’m not a master of a certain craft, but I like crafting in general, I like that this lets me do so many different versions of crafting.”
He designs every aspect of his table meticulously, including the floral arrangement, glassware and menu. For the theme, he even made an animatronic parrot from scratch.
“The pink in the orchids matches the pink in the salt and pepper shakers. The green and orange are pulled upward into the birds of paradise. Everything is coordinated,” Wyckoff said.
Brian Koch, a 68-year-old arborist, took off work Friday to visit the first day of the fair. It was his first fair in at least a decade, and he purchased a season pass to come back regularly.
“I enjoy going to fairs,” Koch said. “Mainly for the agricultural stuff, not for the rides or anything.”
Throughout the fair, various animal species will come and go for people to visit and watch in competitions. Cattle, chickens, donkeys and more will make their way to the fairgrounds over the next month.
During opening weekend, visitors will be able to see goats and llamas brought by breeders from around Southern California.
Eleven llamas at the fair on Friday belong to Eileen Ditsler.
“I discovered the llamas by accident at a fair like this,” said the 61-year-old San Dimas resident. “I’ve had llamas now for 30 years and they’re just so easy.”
She said a few years ago they exploded in popularity with people watching videos of them on TikTok, wearing llama T-shirts and even paying for them to be at weddings. They can even be taken out for a walk in the neighborhood with a lead rope.
They’re a hit with the fair crowds, especially Jim Wilson, 83, of Cypress, who was smiling in the livestock area as he watched the llamas munching on hay and showing off their poodle-like haircuts.
“It’s so great to see them,” Wilson said. “These guys are something different.”
If you go
When: Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays through Aug. 17
Where: The OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa
Cost: General admission is $13 on Wednesdays and Thursdays and $15 on other days; seniors and children are $9 daily. Tickets must be purchased at ocfair.com/tickets and popular dates may sell out.
For more information: ocfair.com
