Elisabeth Handley
Missing the San Diego County Fair?
Keep the Fair Spirit Alive! Summer fun in San Diego
means sun, surf, and (usually) the San Diego County Fair, attended by over 1.5 million people annually. That tradition takes this year off in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and San Diego County will deeply miss its favorite summertime festival, a local institution that delights county residents of all ages. “We know summer won’t feel the same without the fair kicking off the season, but postponing was important to keep the community safe,” says Annie Pierce, communications manager for the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Fair management, however, is determined to keep the spirit alive in 2020 with several ways families can enjoy their favorite activities remotely, even the fair food. Especially the fair food. One of the fair’s most prominent icons is Charlie Boghosian, owner of the famous Chicken Charlie’s. The food stand, celebrated for such fair-tastic delicacies as cotton candy ice cream sandwiches and deep-fried Kool-Aid, is a historical institution in its own right. This year would have marked 25 years at the San Diego County Fair, 37 years for Boghosian himself, if you count the summers he worked for other food vendors. Boghosian immigrated to the U.S. in 1980 at age 11 and lived with his family of six in a 900-square-foot home in South Park, where his father ran
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a grocery store. At age 14, he asked permission to work at the then-Del Mar Fair. A dozen years later, a food vendor offered to sell him her chicken stand, and the rest, as they say, is history. Chicken Charlie’s was born. A love of cooking and invention has led Boghosian to create some of the most iconic, beloved fair treats throughout the country, not just in San Diego. “When I invented deep-fried Oreos, I had no idea how big it would really be,” he says. “It changed my life.” During the last fair he attended that year, a reporter asked Boghosian
what he would be offering fairgoers the following year. “I’ve come up with a new deep-fried item every year since,” he says. “Deep fried cookie dough, Kool-Aid, even deep-fried filet mignon.” This year’s invention is deepfried saltwater taffy, which Boghosian will offer at his Rancho Bernardo restaurant starting June 5, the day the fair would have opened. “With all that’s going on this year, the gloves are off,” he says. “Our menu will change to include some fun fair stuff like bacon-wrapped turkey legs, cotton candy ice cream sandwiches and
This isn’t the first time the San Diego County Fair has closed since its inception in 1880. It shut down during World Wars I and II, and while the festivities were suspended during WWII, activity was not. The grounds became a training facility and temporary quarters for military personnel, paratroopers bedded down in the horse stalls, and a US Marine Corps detachment trained on nearby beaches.
16 • SanDiegofamily.com • June 2020
