At the County Fair, the Topic Is Tropics

COSTA MESA — The Orange County Fair this year will have an unusual addition to the typical carnival rides and exhibits: a tropical rain forest.

The Thunder Lagoon rain forest will be the main attraction inside the Flower and Garden Building during the July 7-23 fair. The 5,000-square-foot exhibit of plants and trees will feature mist, rain, and thunder and lightning effects.

“The coming of the storm will be computer automated,” said Pam Heck, a marketing assistant for the Orange County Fair. “That’s what’s so special about it.”

Each of four shows an hour will accommodate 300 people.

Every year the fair salutes a different agricultural industry in Orange County, and the concept of a rain forest, Heck said, fit right into this year’s theme of horticulture.

Designed by Available Light, a Massachusetts company specializing in theatrical and museum lighting, Thunder Lagoon has appeared from Boston to Portland, Me., over the past seven years, fair officials said.

“Any time you bring an environment indoors it’s pretty dramatic, especially when you consider the realism of the rain and thunder,” said Ken Inouye, the project’s coordinator and a well-known landscape designer who has worked with several amusement parks. “But something like this has never been done on this magnitude in Southern California. It’s a theatrical event.”

Local nurseries are also getting involved in the horticultural theme this year by setting up information booths and providing nursery-related attractions. The nursery industry is the second-largest agricultural enterprise in the county.