The Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, California, reported an extra 60,000 attended over the previous year and is giving partial credit to a Route 66 theme for the attendance boost.
The Los Angeles Times reported the fair drew 1.13 million people over 19 days — a 5 percent increase from 2017. Organizers attributed the bigger crowds to better weather, lower prices and the Route 66 theme.
To attract more paying customers this year, the fair did not raise entrance prices. Also, with the fair paying homage this year to the iconic cross-country Route 66, each food vendor offered a $6.60 meal package, including a meal of mac and cheese in a waffle cone with buffalo chicken.
The fair also sold a package that included four season passes, plus parking and a collectible lanyard for $66, a deal compared with the $180 price if the components were purchased separately, according to fair officials. On select days, residents of specific cities and regions were also charged entrance prices of only $6.60, compared with $14 for adults on weekdays and $20 on weekends.
“As a whole, we did better financially than in the past,” Santana said.
The Alt 66 part of the fair drew a lot of praise for covering the less-known parts of the Mother Road. Reported Hyperallergic, an arts and culture website, about the show:
Revisiting the history of Route 66 meant unearthing long-buried, difficult stories that are embedded into the Mother Road’s history, especially those belonging to Black, Latinx, and queer voices. One artifact that plays a prominent role in two installations is the “Green Book,” Victor Hugo Green’s annual motorist guidebook for African Americans traveling across the country published between 1936 and 1966. The book became an invaluable source to those who were often refused service or felt threatened on the road. “That’s the best example of a really significant experience for travelers along Route 66 that no one ever talks about,” Canavan said.
Telling these stories, however, means including some uncomfortable and jarring imagery. Erin Elizabeth Adam dominates the back of the gallery with “Under the Same Sky,” a sprawling to-scale replica of the type of homeless encampment displaced Angelinos currently inhabit on the curbside of what was once the most hopeful road in America. Just a few yards away are a cluster of rotting trees with nooses dangling from their branches sewn by Julia Bui and Lethia Cobbs, which illuminate the potential dangers black travelers faced when traveling alone during the Jim Crow era. “At no point did we censor anything,” Canavan said.
This 12-minute video by Citrus College in nearby Glendora gives an overview of the Alt 66 show:
https://youtu.be/0nlAeMh5r14
More about the show is reported in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
(Image of an Alt 66 display at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona via the fair’s website)