Does the OC Fairgrounds (aka OC Fair and Event Center or OCFEC) need a new image and brand or is the current image and brand working fine?  Keeping the current image and branding is an option.

You can give your input on:

• Tuesday January 29, 2019 from 2-3 PM 
• Wednesday January 30, 2019 from 6-7 PM

Meetings will be held in the Administration Building located off Arlington Drive. The property address is 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Info from OCFEC about this project is available. 

What's Missing from the Rebranding Effort

A number of important uses of the property are missing from the branding questions such as the Equestrian Center  along with community, educational, and agricultural use. There are no questions about how the property fits into the local community. Please let the branding consultants know these uses are important to you. 

Expected Questions for the Rebranding Workshops

The Board was asked questions about rebranding during the December 2018 Board meeting and expect similar questions to be asked during the workshops. Those questions were:

What makes the OC Fair & Event Center great?

How have you seen the OC Fair & Event Center change in the past five years?

What's your vision of the organization in the next five years?

What do you think are the biggest challenges in attracting new events here to the property?

When you think about events that you go to outside of those that are here at the OC Fairgrounds, what are some of the interesting changes that you see happening at other events that you frequent or that you have attended.

Who would you say the competitors are?

To what extent do you believe we've built goodwill and equity into some of the particular venues here on the site?

Up here on the screen, we just put a few logos together here and we're calling this the OC Tourism Slide. Basically, things that you can experience here in Orange County or near Orange County. And we would just like to hear youth thoughts if there are any particular logos that you think are very effective or that speak to you -- resonate with you?

These are fairground brands. Do any of these stand out to you as being particularly effective?

These are more venue logos where you might go to hear a concert or have an experience. So we'd just love to hear your thoughts about which of these you feel are interesting or effective.

Contact Information

You can share your thoughts with staff and the Board regarding the rebranding effort.

Contact VP of Business Development Who is Managing the Rebranding Work

Michele Richards [email protected]

Contact the Fair Board 

Chair Robert Ruiz [email protected]

Vice Chair Sandra Cervantes [email protected]

Ashleigh Aitken [email protected]

Barbara Bagneris [email protected]

Doug La Belle [email protected]

Andreas Meyer ameyer@ocfairboard.com

Gerardo Mouet [email protected]

Newton Pham [email protected]

Natalie Rubalcava-Garcia nrubalcava-garcia@ocfairboard.com

Your input for the OC Fairgrounds (aka Orange County Fair and Event Center or OCFEC) Master Site Plan is needed because the Master Site Plan process will start after the 2018 OC Fair closes in August and finish by the end of December 2018.  Two prior Master Site Plan proposals included converting OCFEC into a convention center (September 2017) and demolition of the Equestrian Center to create an RV park (April 2018).  The April 2018 proposal included $170 million in bonds for a series of projects with the nearly half a billion dollars in  debt payments on the bonds forcing OCFEC either into bankruptcy or to more than quadruple revenues to simply make the debt payments.  Only one meeting was allowed for Public input during these two proposals even though the Public owns the property.  

There has been a lack of participation by the Public and FANS of the OC Fairgrounds is providing a channel for Public input. 

Let's Crowdsource: Tell Us How You Want to Use the OC Fairgrounds (OCFEC)

Friends and Neighbors of the OC Fairgrounds (FANS of the OC Fairgrounds) is crowdsourcing how the OC Fairgrounds (OCFEC) can be used in the future to better serve the needs of the Public who own the property.  We want to know your vision of how the OC Fairgrounds (OCFEC) should be used in 5 years (2023), 10 years (2028) and 15 years (2033). Here are some questions to get your ideas going:

• What works well and what needs to be improved?  
• Are there activities which should be expanded or shrunk?
• Are new activities needed and what are those activities?
• How can the OC Fairgrounds (OCFEC) better serve the community?
• The property is supposed to serve the needs of all of Orange County. What are those needs and how can those needs be addressed? 

Ideas which are submitted will be posted and the Public allowed to review and comment on the ideas. During the Master Site Plan process during late 2018, these ideas will be brought forward to show how the Public wants to use the OC Fairgrounds (OCFEC.)  Any member of the Public can submit ideas.  We ask that submissions be no longer than 6 US letter sized pages with all pages in PDF format. 

How to Submit Your Ideas

The complete agenda is available here 

https://ocfair.com/public-information/public-meetings/

More information including copies of contracts listed in the agenda will be available on the  Monday before the Thursday 9 AM Board of Directors meeting.  There is no significant update on the Master Site Plan process even though work is continuing in the back rooms without the public being asked to participate. 

Issues to watch are:

Contract amendment for Spectra, the onsite caterer which holds the alcohol license and operates the Orange County Market Place.  Update on the struggling Orange County Market Place. (Agenda Item 9B) A copy of the current contract with Spectra and for the OC Market Place are available on the Fairgrounds Documents Page. 

Centennial Farm Foundation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Issues: Centennial Farm Foundation is legally separate from Centennial Farm and does not own, operate, or provide a significant source of funding for Centennial Farm. Centennial Farm Foundation has been asked to sign an MOU formalizing the relationship with the OC Fairgrounds (Orange County Fair and Event Center) and has not signed the MOU after a long wait. The Board may take action regarding the MOU at this meeting which is not expected to make a significant change in operation of Centennial Farm. 

California Assembly Bill 2396 Discussion: This is a bad bill which allows conflicts of interest and removes competitive bidding rules, among other changes. Kill the bill!

Committee/Task Force/ Liaison Reports will be given on these areas (Agenda Item 9A):

Pacific Amphitheatre Operation Evaluation & Review Task Force (Director Berardino, Director Tkaczyk): This task force hired the former manager of the Pacific Amphitheatre under Nederlander when the noise problems occurred to assist the task force in reviewing Pacific Amphitheatre operations and making recommendations for changes. A no-bid contract was used for the hiring.

If you find out, please tell us because the Fair Board and staff claim that agriculture is a primary focus, but agriculture is treated like an afterthought.

Claims are made that the “Ag-Expo Hall” is strictly for agriculture, but how realistic that a 50,000 to 150,000 sq ft exposition building will be used only for agricultural shows. When was the last time there was a farm show in Orange County?  An Ag-Expo building with 50,000 sq ft of rentable space would have more rentable space than the meeting space on the second level of the Anaheim Convention Center over Halls A and B which can accommodate over 4,000 guests. 

An Ag Expo building with 150,000 sq ft of rentable space would have more rentable space than in three out of five exhibit halls at the Anaheim Convention Center, and could accommodate up to 12,000 guests.

The Ag-Expo building is being built as rentable space and will be used as part of a convention center in much of the same ways that the exhibit halls at the Anaheim Convention Center are used.

The “Big Farm” in the “Bold” proposal requires a convention and expo center to be built to get this project done. This is unacceptable.

A new Assembly bill, AB 2166 (Caballero) encourages community colleges and fairgrounds to collaborate on establishing "smart farms" on community college campuses and fairgrounds to provide regional agricultural businesses the opportunity to showcase up-to-date technology in real world practice. The OC Fairgrounds is across the street from Orange Coast Community College where there is an active horticulture program. Adding a new farm area at the OC Fairgrounds to showcase agricultural technology would be a benefit to the OC Fairgrounds, Orange Coast College, local agricultural businesses, and the community as a whole. Please ask your local Assemblymember, the OC Fair Board, and Orange Coast College to support this bill.

Download a copy of the bill as of Feb 13, 2018  Download Bill Text - AB-2166 California Farm Bill: agricultural technology

Yes. The OC Fairgrounds has more than enough money now to increase agricultural programming, building new agriculture facilities, increase community programs, and lower rates to allow community groups to use the facilities. November 2017 financials show year to date revenues of $44,948,460 with operating expenses of $34,501,492 which is a profit of $10,446,968 or 23.2%.

The November 2017 financial statements are here  Download Financials_17_12_December_Board_Packet

While the Fair Board claims that agriculture is a primary focus of the OC Fairgrounds, actions don't support those claims.  New Master Site Plan proposals show a new 40,000 sq ft "Educational Meeting Center" with a 20.000 sq ft ballroom being built behind Centennial Farm. 

The "Educational Meeting Center" is a meeting and conference center with a fancy name.  The ballroom will be used for conventions, tradeshows, meetings, and other events.  This is not a school building and there are no plans to open a school of the arts which will use the classrooms and ballroom on a daily basis for arts education, rehearsals, and performances. 

Space for expanding Centennial Farm would be lost to the "Educational Meeting Center".  Expect the building to be two or more stories tall and to dominate the landscape with bulk and mass. A building of the size and location shown can cast shadows on Centennial Farm, which can harm the agriculture exhibits. 

While claims are made that agriculture is important, the Master Site Plan proposals show making money by becoming a convention and expo center is more important than agriculture, and that harming the agriculture mission is okay if there is money to be made.