
DATE: Sunday, August 3, 1997                TAG: 9708030092

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ADAM BERNSTEIN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   99 lines

ALL'S FAIR AT BEACH MANAGEABLE CROWDS MAKE PREVIEW OF STATE FAIR ENJOYABLE, VISITORS SAY.

Roofed by a baby-blue sky, the helicopter took a four-minute spin to the shoreline specked with multicolor-suited sun worshipers, up to Rudee Inlet and back to home base, the Fair at the Beach.

Strapped inside the chopper sat husband and wife Michael and Lou Joyner, both 30, from Norfolk.

For the Joyners, the trip in the air was great fun. ``I've never done anything like that,'' Lou Joyner said, adding about the cost-vs.-time ratio: ``Thirty bucks? Who cares?''

The copter was one of the rides at the fair, which runs through Aug. 10 at Camp Pendleton. The fair is meant to spark enthusiasm for the Richmond-based Virginia State Fair in late September.

It is also a way to bring a taste of the State Fair, about 10 times as large, to those who won't travel the 100 miles to Richmond, said Robyn Klesath, a Fair spokeswoman.

The view from the helicopter showed the fairgrounds to be uncluttered during Saturday's pleasant, sunny afternoon. Opening-day attendance on Friday was about 4,000, half the size organizers hoped it would be, general manager Kieth Hessey said.

Still, fair-goers said they enjoyed the event's pace. All attributed it to the manageable crowds.

Although no figures were available Saturday, more than 1,000 cars had entered the grounds by 4:30 p.m., one coordinator said.

On Saturday, the fair followed a leisurely pace, with attendees ebbing and flowing from exhibit to ride to funnel-cake stand.

Also on hand were several citywide organizations, which use one tent for informational booths. Each of the five Hampton Roads towns can use the tent for two days.

Starting today, Chesapeake will be in the limelight.

The Virginia Beach tent featured an environmental flair on Saturday. On hand were the Southeastern Association for Virginia's Environment, the Virginia Beach Environmental Task Force, the Virginia Beach Clean Community Commission and the Virginia Marine Science Museum.

The Virginia Beach Volunteer Council and the school system also had representatives. One demonstrably selfless woman, Marietta Connor, a retired manager at AT&T, said she put in ``only'' 100 volunteer hours since moving to Virginia Beach not too long ago.

``I'm just a baby,'' Connor said.

Across the green from the city tent was the police force, state trooper service and a representative from the city garage. This last fellow spoke of an intriguing accomplishment two years in the making.

``Me and a group of guys at the garage converted (a police car and van) from a regular engine to a natural gas engine,'' said Doug Guinn, a mechanic.

``The van has 94,000 miles on it and never has had a tune up.''

The police, emergency medical service and drug units had displays, including a shiny new Ford Crown Victoria. The drug unit brought a case filled with fake crack samples. Also in the case were examples showing the difference between hashish and a rolled joint.

In mid-afternoon, after a parrot show had left the fair's stage, an Eastern Shore-based troupe called Moose Lodge Country Line Dancers strutted its stuff before a small-but-game crowd.

Sandy Barto and Serena Holmes, both of Virginia Beach, described the plucky group as a ``lot of old ladies shaking their booty,'' and they meant it reverently.

Their friend, Holli Bedrosian, 15, liked the line dancers, too, but she was more interested in winning a lizard or a hermit crab at one of the fair's sundry game stands.

Bedrosian did not, as the game's rules went, accurately toss her whiffle ball into the rows of goldfish bowls, so she walked away lizardless and crabless.

Among the organizations attending were the Virginia Beach 4-H Livestock Club, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Antique Engine Club of Tidewater Virginia, a 70-member group from Hampton.

The favorite engine of Nelson Franklin, the group's vice president, was a 1928 Lister gas engine and generator once used to light an English manor home before rural electrification.

Saturday night's entertainment included Bill Deal and ``Fat Ammon'' Tharp, known as ``The Original Rhondels.''

Organizers said the crowd size would increase in the evening, when the beach would not rival the fair for the attention of locals. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Debbie Bryan, center, and Peggy Hardee talk near the Thunder Bolt

ride as Nathan Harwell, 11, a friend of their children, rests.

Photo

NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Trenton Brown, 10, bottom, Terry Brown, 13, middle, Deron Brooks,

10, top left, an Taisha Brown, 5, enjoy snow cones Saturday at the

Fair at the Beach at Camp Pendleton. The fair has drawn

smaller-than-expected crowds, but that has made it more enjoyable

for those who have gone, some visitors said. The fair continues

through Aug. 10.

Graphic