O.C. Fair Board supports new vision for equestrian center
Hands-on equine experiences and exhibits, regional horse shows, therapy sessions and public visiting hours — operators of the Orange County fairgrounds’ Equestrian Center are beginning to craft a new vision for the decades-old facility.
Orange County Fair & Event Center officials on Thursday presented ideas for future programming that may take place on the 7-acre parcel, which has historically been run by a contractor overseeing boarders and trainers who offer privately arranged riding lessons.
They’ve given themselves a deadline of June 14 — the date by which the center’s current activities must cease — to develop a more public-facing, in-house operating model similar to the property’s Centennial Farm and Heroes Hall veterans museum.
Speaking to board members in a regular meeting on Thursday, OCFEC chief executive Michele Richards described ongoing talks with local and county officials, equine therapy providers, nonprofit organizations and local equestrians regarding how the center might meet the needs not only of the fair-going public but the broader community.
She said her team intended to spend the next several months developing programming through a collaborative approach, before determining how such visions might be realized.
“Centennial Farm and Heroes Hall did not get built overnight, so we need a plan to introduce these programs. We’ll need to recommend an operating budget and then develop a timeline for roll-out,” Richards said Thursday.
Board members decided during a Dec. 14 meeting, in which scores of equestrians gave testimony of the vital services already being provided at the center, to cancel a request for proposals from operators interested in continuing under the old model.
Even if an operator had been found, it was unclear whether needed capital improvements at the facility would have been funded by OCFEC, already operating the center at a significant deficit or on the dime of an operator who would essentially be leasing the site.
Equestrians operating at the Costa Mesa facility will have until June to conduct business as usual but will be included in plans to transition the site toward more public programming, the O.C. Fair Board decided Thursday.
The board instead directed staff to devise a plan for how a reimagined Equine Center might be more integrated into the year-round offerings provided at the fairgrounds.
Aside from educational visits and small regional horse shows, operators are considering offering riding lessons under hired or contracted trainers, as well as continuing the practice of evacuating large animals during emergencies and boarding privately owned horses.
“Once the public programs I’ve mentioned are planned and an overall programming schedule is established, remaining boarding opportunities could be offered for privately owned horses,” Richards said.
Staff are also looking into whether area law enforcement agencies that employ equine units might be interested in maintaining a public presence at the facility.
“Currently the law enforcement mounted units in various Orange County cities and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department all train together in Norco,” Richards said. “There could be an opportunity to board some of those horses at the center and use the center for training and conducting public training demonstrations open free to the community.”
Corona del Mar resident Caroyln Beaver, who boards a horse at the Equestrian Center and takes lessons there, said she and other equestrians were glad to have been included in talks over the new plan for the site and that boarding has been included as a public benefit of the center.
“We very much appreciate the direction CEO Richards has proposed. We think it’s the right direction,” she told the board. “We look forward to working collaboratively with all of you to help more people experience the joy of horses.”
To keep the conversation going, the board agreed to place the item under the purview of its facilities committee, which would provide monthly progress reports at future meetings ahead of the June deadline.
OCFEC Director Barbara Bagneris said given the shrinking footprint of equestrian options in Orange County and beyond, she was hopeful for a new vision of the center.
“Change is always tough, but I see this going somewhere big,” she said. “We’re setting the model for what could be done. And with the community focus, I couldn’t be any happier. I look forward to moving forward with this.”
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