Artisans Attract Loyal Following at the County Fair : Ventura: People flock to learn about others’ unique skills, whether it’s transforming eggs into ornaments or turning cantaloupes into turtles.

Kyle Area, 7, leaned his arms on the table and pressed his face forward to get a better look.

“She does it with real eggs,” the Newbury Park boy said admiringly as he watched Frances-Jane Longley drill a delicate design into a hollow eggshell. “And they don’t crack.”

In a performance they have repeated daily since the Ventura County Fair opened last week, Longley and other members of the Tri-County Egg Carvers demonstrated their craft to fair-goers Sunday, transforming ordinary, hollow eggshells into intricate Christmas-tree ornaments, bead-covered music boxes and pearl-studded cases.

The decorated eggs could sell for as much as $1,500.

But the egg artists--and the people demonstrating wood carving, vegetable cutting and other crafts at the fair--are not allowed to sell their wares on the fairgrounds. The egg carvers say they don’t mind; the annual fair is their chance to educate the public about their ancient art.

“For as long as there have been eggshells, people have been decorating them,” said Longley, who chatted with fair visitors Sunday as she drilled a delicate design into a goose eggshell.

But many men, women and children who stopped to look at the finished, decorated eggs and watch the carving demonstrations said they doubted they would give the hobby a try.

“I wouldn’t have the patience,” Oxnard resident Billy Hussing, 11, said.

“I’d be cracking them,” Ventura resident Doris Hughes, 59, said.

On the other side of the fairgrounds, some fair-goers had similar reactions as they watched an Oxnard woman carve cantaloupes into turtles, leeks into flowers and squash into birds.

“I’m lucky I can cut a cantaloupe in half without losing a finger,” Simi Valley resident Diane Rehaut said as she watched Renu Measures carve vegetables outside the Floriculture Building.

But some of the other fair visitors, who craned their necks to watch Measures, said they wanted to learn her craft.

And Dave Callahan, 50, whose wife, Linda, plans to take vegetable-carving classes, said he’s glad such demonstrations are part of the county fair.

“It’s showing special skills,” the Camarillo attorney said. “You come away with something, and it’s all in the price of admission. I like that.”

But admissions to the fair continue to be down compared to last year.

From Wednesday through Saturday, the fair had 77,630 visitors, nearly 15% fewer than the same period last year.

Fair organizers have attributed the drop to lower attendance on the first day, when the grandstand performer, rock musician Michael McDonald, drew about 5,000 fewer visitors than the band “Color Me Badd” attracted on opening day last year.

But attendance also was down by about 3,700 on Friday and 1,000 Saturday.

Fair spokeswoman Teri Raley said she expects attendance levels to climb next week when two youth-oriented bands perform.

“We’re doing very well,” Raley said Sunday. “We’ve had more than 77,000.”

And a good portion of those 77,000 got to and from the fairgrounds by train.

Metrolink is making special runs from the east county to the fairgrounds on the two weekends of the fair.

On Saturday, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 riders packed the trains, so many, in fact, that conductors had to whiz past the Oxnard station without stopping, forcing people there to wait for other trains.

Metrolink gradually added more cars throughout the day Saturday, increasing the number from four to 11.

Resolving not to let Saturday’s crowding problems occur again Sunday, transportation officials ran 12 Metrolink cars all day Sunday. And while Metrolink trains stopped at every station, some cars became so full that riders said they had to stand.

Russ MacVickar, who rode Metrolink from Simi Valley, said the train does what it’s supposed to: “It bypasses all the bad stuff, like the traffic and the parking. It worked just right.”

* TODAY’S FAIR SCHEDULE: B6