A SUMMERTIME CHRISTMAS - A Del Mar Fair Review
Jesus said that unless you possessed the mind of a child, you would not see Heaven. He knows the value in a child’s mind to see beyond the limitations ‘adults’ place on themselves. For a child, there is a time in the summer that is like Christmas. It is the time when the Fair opens. Like Christmas, the Fair is a magical event with many interesting elements, treats, food, and more than meets the eye. The one Fair that stands in my mind above the many Fairs that I’ve gone to, was one back in 88 or 89, when we saw Robert Palmer at a State Fair in Peoria, Illinois. The night air was balmy and breezy. Walking through all the dazzling, swirling lights, we climbed a grass hill overlooking the giant Ferris wheel and smoked a fat joint before winding back down to watch the show up in bleacher seats. The night was magical. The beer was ice cold and from a tap. It was the best Fair I had ever experienced, that is, until yesterday and last night, and the great Fair at Del Mar, CA, now called the San Diego County Fair. For that memory of the past to be replaced, you have to know that shit was crackin’.
This adventure started just the night before, with an invite to see the Reggae Fest at the Del Mar race track, from Java Jo Johnny, himself once a resident of Del Mar. Having learned from my second wife the worth of traveling with the locals when outside your realm, the next day’s adventure with JJJ started with a stop at a center with a coffee shop and stage that pointed to the origin idea for Temec’s Java Joz concept. After that, it was off to our ’secret’ parking lot, not the one that all the tourists and possibly many of the Del Mar folks themselves go to. We go to this lot because it is cheaper and way less full than the Fair’s official parking lot. Also because this lot is operated by local families, the money stays in the community. This is a point brought home as this event used to be known as the Del Mar Fair. This Fair is the longest Fair in the country, running from June 10th - July 4th, 24 days! Folks, this is the ‘Disneyland’ of Fairs. To tell you about everything that was going on just the day we went, would take a small book. But they give you a free ticket so you can return another time. They know it’s big.
Let’s put it this way, you get a foldout pamphlet, full color, slick paper, showing you a map of the place and a list of everything happening that day. Musically, our night included Pau Hana, Polynesian reggae and the Singer/Songwriter of the day, on two other stages. Also going on was the Del Mar 500cc SX; a celebrity reader, author Bill Seaton, My Seven Years In Captivity; and a culinary art series with Chef Hans-Trevor Gossmann. There is a huge section of rides for kids 8 years old and under, and another section for 8 and up, with of course a giant Ferris wheel. These outsized ride sections are on the other side of a ring of beer gardens. As Johnny, Charity, Jimmy, and I are all adults, you will have to attend the Del Mar, oops, San Diego County Fair yourself to experience the selection of rides. All I can say is, the beer was cold, the crowd was friendly, and it was a good day to be a senior and only pay $6.00 for all this. It was also a good day not to forget your cell phone, because though the crowd was light early, for a Saturday, by the time the late afternoon hit, it was easy to get separated from each other in the sea of people.
Arriving as we did, in the morning, there was plenty of time before the show, which starred Boom Shaka opening, and headliners and old school jammers, Third World and Steel Pulse. After entering the gate, we cruised through stalls inside buildings like O’Brien Hall, seeing vendors offering unique products and services. This gave me pause as I live in a trendy area and I was seeing things completely new to me. Thrust me, or you can ask Bill (of FVE), I stay on the cutting edge of the latest thing, and here I was impressed. One thing that was the same though was a Dippin’ Dots. But even this one had a twist. They sold the biggest, fattest, not-too-dry, not-too-moist, dark brown, homemade brownies, for only $3, just the thing to chase my breakfast of pizza and brunch with beer. Went down like a soft brick.
Then it was off to see what was another unique part of this Fair, the landscape exhibit. Here inside a massive building were showcased condensed versions of backyard, side yard, and front yard landscaped layouts featuring real and exotic plants and flowers. One layout scene looked like the front yard of your faerie Godmother, with the only thing missing being a talking animal. Another scene looked like it could be outside a bungalow owned by ‘I Love Lucy’ and featured a variety of flowers so red I couldn’t believe it. In the Greek metaphysical Plane of Originals, these flowers had the color ‘red’ found there. They were red Red. How red were they? They were so red that when you closed your eyes, you could see the red of the flowers on the inside of your eyelids. Then it was off to the Fern Garden, nicknamed the ‘burn’ garden by the locals. Ferns are so alien.
After being sneaked in to the reserved seating section, I settled back to watch the crowd and enjoy some fine reggae with my posse. Now I have to say something at this point about the weather, a word of caution to all my readers who might take in the Fair after reading this review. Though it was a 106 degrees back at my home town which lies only 40 minutes away, 40 minutes, OK, this is Del Mar. Del Mar never gets hot. Even when the weatherman says it is record heat in the forecast, Del Mar never gets hot. This is where the Devil lays on the beach when he wants to beat the heat. Del Mar never gets hot. There are two reasons for this. The first is that from my seat in the stands, I could look to my left and see the Pacific Ocean. The second reason for the coolness of Del Mar is that it stays socked in. The cloud cover never fully burns off. That was the one thing I barely remembered from a visit to Del Mar many years ago. ‘It might be hot everywhere else but this is Del Mar,’ said the memory. As the late afternoon ocean breeze kicked in, I snuggled in my California style insulated flannel shirt like a groom to his bride on honeymoon night.
What shook off the chill though were the three reggae music acts that I had come to see. Boom Shaka took the large stage first and immediately got the crowd going with an infectious brand of party reggae. It is hard not to dance to reggae music. Rhythm is the backbone of reggae and that’s just where the rhythm takes hold. It goes from your backbone to your hips and the next thing you know, you are jammin’. I’d like to give more technical notes about Boom Shaka but I was, well, jammin’. I’d say you can’t go wrong picking up a CD by these guys. Steel Pulse and Third World are seasoned names in reggae music. Bob Marley, who introduced reggae and the Rasta way to the masses of America, is the face of reggae, but when you look just past him, you will find Steel Pulse and Third World. You can seek no better examples of reggae music masters to get your dance groove on to.
And speaking of grooves and the Rasta way, there came to pass a scene of pure Americana truly deserving of Norman Rockwell. However, since he isn’t quite around, at least so’s you’d notice, you, my readers, will have to visualize it for yourself. In the next section over from us and down a few rows were five young guys, all buds, in every way, the ‘boys’. They pulled out their weed and smoked bowls cautiously, at first. With each round or ’sess’, they got bolder in their openness. Of course after the music started, various clouds of smoke could be seen coming from different areas in the vast crowd. Sitting directly in front of the boys was an older gentleman and his wife. They were dancing like most everyone else, so they weren’t duds, just a different generation. He looked ‘navy’. Sometime during the break between Third World and Steel Pulse I saw one of the young guys passing the glass pipe of pot to the older man, an invite to join in on the sess. But it was after the sess that I really took notice. It was the look on the older man’s face. Here was someone’s grandfather who had suddenly bridged a gap. Joining the circle belonging to his grandkids, he had crossed over a cultural boundary between the drinkers and the puffers. Someone’s grandfather was going to return to the family circle a little cooler than when he left. The boys thought it was cool too, to smoke with a ‘granddad’. It was a Kodak moment at the Fair.
Coming home late from the Fair, though it was still going on when we left, the thought hit me that this was going to become State Fair memory No. 1. It had the magic. Once into the stands and the reserved seating, we had all moved to a section closer to the stage, a section that no one in my posse had a ticket for. As the night wore on, group after group of people were shown to their seats and our section filled up. No one was ever shown to our seats. And the next day, I found my Fair souvenir. In my change, from some delicious Fair meal I purchased that day or night, I got a wheat penny. What a State Fair at Del Mar!!
- PT ROTHSCHILD