Isaiah Murtaugh|Ventura County Star
It was a Viking longship, scything up past the fairground fence, that got the kids talking.
“I love that one,” Daisy Cardenas, 16, said, eyes fixed on the swinging ship as it stalled, nearly vertical, then swung down toward the tarmac, its crew happily shrieking.
Caleb Yetter, 12, was more cautious about the classic Sea Dragon.
“I’m down to try it,” he said. “I don’t like drops.”
The Ventura County Fair is back and so are the rides, in all their swinging, swerving pomp, including old stalwarts like the Ferris wheel and the whippy Zipper, and a few new ones, like the Crazy Mouse roller coaster and the flashy, imported-from-Italy Moonraker. The fair continues its 12-day run throughSunday.
I recruited Daisy and Caleb to test out the rides with me and made sure the three of us were kitted out in comfortable shoes, sunscreen and the most powerful weapon at the fair: the unlimited ride wristband.
After picking up our wristbands — available for $40 before 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday — we beelined for the bumper cars, where we faced off with a quartet of elementary-aged girls in matching tie-dye. Underestimate young drivers at your own peril. They know how to bump.
Up next: the spinners. Modern carnival rides are a relatively new field of human innovation that kicked off in 1861 when Englishman Thomas Bradshaw strapped a steam engine to the middle of a wooden carousel, turning it so fast one local paper wondered how riders were not “shot off like a cannon-ball and driven half into the middle of next month.”
I can’t imagine what that 19th century observer would have thought of today’s rides, which flip, catapult, sling and spin riders through every dimension designers can imagine at lightning speeds.
The G Force, a creaky spinning disc that could have used a fresh coat of paint, spun fast enough to flatten us against the wall without restraints, even after the disc tilted up at 50 degrees. The popular UFO-style Gravitron was even faster, the gravitational pull like a bug riding a car windshield.
Finally, we made it to the Sea Dragon. The daredevil kids sat at the prow and stern, which would rise the highest and fall the furthest when the boat picked up speed. Caleb, delightedly buzzing after the two spinners, opted for a compromise.
“I will go in the middle and the middle only,” he said.
We found a seat one row back from the mast, and the ship began to swing, higher with each pass. Caleb’s summer tan went white as blood drained from his face. Our crew, mostly comprised of roving bands of teens, shrieked like a siren, waning at the apex and blaring each time the ship dropped toward the ground.
“Dude,” Caleb said, face locked in concentration. “I’m gonna vomit.”
Thankfully, we’d delayed eating while we tried the stomach-churners, and Caleb made it to solid ground with stomach contents intact. He wasn’t eager to climb back on board.
“Those were screams of pain, not screams of joy,” he said.
We cooled off on the towering, 108-foot Ferris wheel, worth every penny for the sweeping views of Ventura and the Pacific Ocean. Below, the rides whizzed round like dozens of little tops.
Back on the midway, we tried out our pitching arms on pyramids of concrete pins. In a bewildering twist, Daisy and I each won, knocking the tower down in a single throw, and carrying off a 3-foot-long stuffed tiki head and a giant duck dressed in a camo shirt and gray beard.
While the kids took a break to pound down a plate of chili cheese fries, I snuck off to try out Moonraker, the much-hyped space age saucer imported from across the Atlantic.
After whisking up to speed, Moonraker slowly tilts upward ‘til almost 90 degrees, leaving riders staring straight at the ground each time they hit the apex.
But tall folks beware. At 6 foot 4 inches, I felt the harness dig into my shoulders, distracting from the fun. The ride mechanism is nearly identical to the smaller, less dramatic, G-force, whichfelt like it moved nearly as fast.
True daredevils would do well to try out the Zipper, Hyper Loop and Wind Surfer, which spin and flip riders fully upside down.
The new Crazy Mouse is a windy, dippy roller coaster with cars that spin freely as they whip around tight hairpins. With a 20-minute wait, it was by far the longest line of the day.
That was partly made up for by the length of the ride itself, which wound down two sections of rapid hairpins and a few small drops. It was a hit with Caleb and Daisy, who rated it one of the best rides of the day.
To close out, we headed for our mutual favorite, one we’d tried twice earlier in the day. On Free Style, a central axle spins and whips riders back and forth like a boomerang, then starts tipping back and forth, tossing riders in a looping circle.
The first time we hopped on board, Caleb asked to sit next to me – “I need someone to hold onto really hard” – but this time, with a day full of rides under his belt, he was loose, an old cowboy ready to jump on the bull one last time.
The ride sparked up, slow, then faster. Caleb cracked a grin that grew wider with each turn.
Around us, dozens of rides whirred and crowds shrilled. Teenage kids dropped spare tickets on midway games and little ones clutched parent hands on their first big kid ride. The colored lights waited to click on.
Ventura County Fair
Fair details: The fairgrounds, at10W. Harbor Blvd. inVentura,openat noon on weekends and 1 p.m. on weekdays. Buildings generally close at 10 p.m. with concessions shutting down an hour later.The fair runs through Aug. 14.
Admission: $15 at the gate for age13 to 64;$10, age6 to 12;$10,age 65 to 99 and free for anyone 100 and older
Parking at the fairgrounds site: $20. People can also park and use free shuttle service from several different Ventura sites.
More information and tickets:venturacountyfair.org.
Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach himat isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or805-437-0236.You can support this work with atax-deductible donation to Report for America. Follow him and get more Ventura County education updates on Twitter by following @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools.
