Carlsbad Village Faire gets fair weather; sunny crowds

By: BRUCE KAUFFMAN - Staff Writer | Sunday, May 1, 2005 9:40 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Carlsbad survived the invasion of the Red Hat Society as thousands filled the streets Sunday for the 31st annual Carlsbad Village Faire.

Whether by coincidence or design, the society, made up solely of women who are at least 50 years old, was represented at the Faire by 31 members, one for each year of the event. They were hard to miss in their flaming red hats and bright purple scarves.

"Our purpose," said Carol Conley, who joined several red-hatted colleagues for lunch at a round table set up outdoors amid fast-food booths near the railroad station, "is just to set ourselves free and have fun."

Their definition of fun tended toward shopping, shopping, shopping ---- many society members bought new red hats found among the cornucopia of merchandise in the booths that lined Grand Avenue and spoked out onto State, Madison and Roosevelt streets ---- and laughs.

The laughs escalated, they said, even before they got to the fair. Arriving at the Oceanside Transit Center by Amtrak from Anaheim, they boarded the 101 bus for the quick jaunt into Carlsbad and made mirth among the passengers by striking up a bouncy rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round" that ended only when they got to the Village.

Thousands took to the Carlsbad Village streets for fair-weather strolling amid no fewer than 900 booths. Fairgoers were enticed to stop for goods and services that included food of many ethnic derivations, candles, paintings, fine photographs, health insurance, newspaper subscriptions, sliding screen doors, jewelry, leather goods, desalinated water, chiropractic treatment and clothing.

One vendor had a sign that said "toe rings installed" and another sold visitors on the services of a registered nurse who used something that looked like a staple gun to pierce people's ears for $5 a pair.

"Did it hurt?" one teen was asked after the hole-y procedure. "Yuh," she said, her tone suggesting the answer should be obvious.

Crowds were expected to reach 90,000. By mid-afternoon, police said they might not have a reliable estimate of the crowd size until as late as Tuesday.

Officers on the street reported no untoward incidents, even with the debut this year of a new beer garden, and indicated the crowd's disposition was much like the day itself: pleasant, sunny and breezy, nature's air conditioning coming off the ocean and fluttering through the colorful clothing arrayed on hangers at many booths.

Fairgoers waited in line at Jefferson Street and Grand Avenue for North County Transit District buses to shuttle them back to the Westfield Shoppingtown Plaza on El Camino Real, where the lot near the Sears store was crowded with their cars. "Full" signs and yellow tape greeted those who defied the odds and looked for parking in the village.

Those who got off the shuttle buses saw right away a bright red object that had nothing to do with hats. Gleaming there in the middle lane of Grand near Jefferson was an antique fire truck, a 1947 pumper made by the Seagrave Co. of Columbus, Ohio.

With some $15,000 raised by Carlsbad firefighters from T-shirts sales, the engine was all but restored. And it looked as if the brisk shirt sales that their Local 3730 was doing at the booth behind the truck would pay for the gauges that were on order to complete the project.

Contact Bruce Kauffman at (760) 761-4411 or bkauffman@nctimes.com.

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