Placer County Fair Opens Amid Scorching Heat With Free Admission
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) - The Placer County Fair kicked off Thursday, with temperatures topping 108 degrees.
"We can't say, 'Oh it's hot, let's have the fair next week.'" said Greg Hegwer, the fair director. "The carnival will be gone; the animals will be at market; the food vendors will be at another fair, we have one shot!"
Triple-digit temperatures are forcing fair officials to get creative to keep not only the guests cool but the animals alive.
"We probably doubled or tripled for the misters because we saw this coming," said Hegwer.
While fairgoers may pick and choose to leave the heat, the hundreds of livestock have to stick around because after all, the 4H show must go on.
"These are my two turkeys," said 12-year-old Manuel Jorgensen of Newcastle. "I'm almost constantly spraying them off."
The hot temperatures are keeping Jorgensen busy watering and fanning the birds every hour.
"I'm very worried that one of them is going to get sick or something, but just got to keep working at it," he said.
Raising them since baby chicks, he's now giving it his all.
"I'm hoping that the buyer will at least give me a good deal," he said.
Keeping fair goers healthy is another battle and health inspectors are on the lookout.
"The batter is iced," said Kevin Peck who owns the corndog stand.
For more than 30 years family-run Capitol Concessions out of Carmichael has been serving up corn dogs at the fair and the heat brings on extra precautions.
"They have an ice company that comes around, so we get ice and you just keep everything iced down and that's all you can do when it's this hot," he said.
While the scorching temperatures may sound daunting, there's plenty in place to keep it cool.
"We've got it all," Hegwer said.
And for all those hard workers, they hope everyone makes it out.
"It's actually a lot of stress, but it's fun," Jorgensen said.
Most importantly it's Placer County Fair's 80th birthday, and admission is free. It's open every night until 11 through Sunday.