A rider from the Asociacion de Charros, Los Amigos dances his horse in front of the audience Sunday at the Santa Cruz County Fair.

Race cars were smashed, crowds were cheering, bands were blaring and records were broken Sunday as the Santa Cruz County Fair wrapped up a successful week.

The final day of the fair was highlighted by the Destruction Derby at Ocean Speedway and the Charros Horse Show in the horse arena. Joe Peña of Watsonville brought his family and was thrilled by the derby.

“I thought it was hella sick,” Peña said. “It was destructive, that’s for sure. They were smashing and smashing into each other. It was a lot of fun. My whole family enjoyed it.”

John Prentice, manager of Ocean Speedway, said the event was so popular he may schedule two destruction derbies next year.

“That was a big crowd pleaser,” he said. “It definitely filled the stands and brought a lot of awareness to the speedway.

At the same time the stands were packed for the derby, seating was hard to find over at the horse arena, where people were watching the Charros show, which was also an early celebration of Mexican Independence Day. Mexico’s culture was on fine display Sunday at the fair. Riders dressed in fine costumes wowed the audience as their horses danced and traipsed across the dirt.

Watching the show from her booth, Blanca Boyd, chair of the horse arena events, was absolutely thrilled with the outcome. Far more people were in the audience than at any show all week.

“The 16th of September is Mexican Independence Day and we got a great response for this show,” she said. “All of this effort has been donated and they have made it very special. I feel that, regarding the Spanish-speaking community, this is their fair, too. So we need to get entertainment that reflects that. This is just spectacular.”

Boyd said all the events this year went well. Saturday’s Watsonville Saddlites show was the biggest in years.

That was the theme everywhere at the fair. The Junior Livestock Auction on Saturday raised $240,000 — a record for the fair.

“Our auction was just phenomenal,” said Laurie Jensen, chair of the Livestock Auction Committee. “We got a lot of support from people from the neighboring counties: San Benito, Santa Clara and Monterey.”

John Kegebein, manager of the fair, said final attendance numbers had yet to be counted, but early figures show approximately the same paid attendance as last year, which was around 45,000 people.

“With the economy being what it is, I feared our numbers would be down,” Kegebein said. “It was a wonderful week. I’ve never had so many compliments in one week.”

Kegebein said several events helped boost this year’s fair. The racing at Ocean Speedway was popular, the Charros Show was a hit and Josh Gracin’s performance filled the stands. But his personal highlight differed.

“My highlight was how well the kids from Pajaro Valley High cleaned up the fairgrounds,” he said. “I never got one single complaint about a ladies room being a mess.”

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*First photo by Jon Chown, second photo by Steve Stagnaro*

(Published in 9/15/08 edition)

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