TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The Kern County Fairgrounds felt a little like a ghost town Thursday morning as Michael Olcott, the fair's new CEO and president, meandered through rows of empty -- but familiar -- food booths and stacked picnic tables.

"I think we're supposed to get some rain," he said, looking out over the fields.

In the distance stood Budweiser Pavilion, where several months ago, acts such as The Doobie Brothers and Salt-N-Pepa played into the warm summer night.

Thursday, it was quiet and chilly.

In the other direction, however, there were signs of life.

Olcott, who was "born and raised" in Kern County, led the way toward the livestock stalls, pointing to the hall where hundreds of animals recently rescued from Rosamond were being housed nearby.

He said proms are often held in Harvest Hall, and ducked into the cavernous Sports Pavilion where walls of flat screens showed horse races to a couple of viewers.

That, Olcott said, is the satellite wagering facility, open year-round.

If there was one thing the local store owner and former Kern County Fair board president -- who took over for former CEO Bill Blair earlier this month -- emphasized in an interview with The Californian, it was that even in the dead of winter, there's almost always something going on at the fairgrounds.

(Interview has been edited for length.)

Question: Tell me a little bit about your background. You were on the fair board (as president for two of those years). How will that experience translate for a fair CEO?

Answer: You already have the background of what's going on. The CEO then has to manage the people and the maintenance department and events. Board members didn't really have control over those things. They oversaw them and were involved but not to a large extent.

Q: What made you want to get into the more hands-on role?

A: I think my background in advertising and marketing. I did advertising and marketing for our business, Olcotts (at The Marketplace). I like the promotional side of things and I really wanted to -- because this is a very big community venue -- I wanted it to be bigger. I want to see it grow, I want to get the community more involved, and with my background with my other business, I think I can do that through just getting the outlying areas more involved with the fair. (I'll work with) supervisors, councilmen, mayors.

Q: So more outside of Bakersfield?

A: Yes, and of course, inside Bakersfield -- businesses I've dealt with and known over the years. And I also want to do more with education, educating our youth, working with the schools. Some of the things we would love to do in the future are a sustainable garden and (education with) livestock, showing how livestock are needed, what they're used for. A lot of field trips to come out here (throughout the school year.) We'll work with the city schools and county schools.

Q: Is that something you've done in the past?

A: Yes. And we just want to expand upon it. We're also working on setting up a nonprofit arm of the fair, so donations can be made tax-deductible to help with property improvements, scholarships for the youth and just general improvements at the fair ... A lot of the fairs are going to (nonprofits) as funding gets cut from the state and the state budget. They're going to that to ask for the community to help and to fund raise and to help support the structure and the infrastructure of the fairgrounds.

Q: If you were to pinpoint things you want to focus on more than your predecessor did, what would they be?

A: Probably two things. I want to increase community involvement out here. I want to get more people involved in our carnival, our exhibits and our livestock area. Livestock's very important to our fair and to our county and also to me. I think that I'd really like to work more on interim events (events not during fair time) for our events centers -- really get a lot more people here renting the facility, knowing about it. We have a lot of great grounds, buildings, all different kinds of uses that people can rent them out for.

Q: What kinds of events?

A: They're talking about more livestock events in our grandstand coming back and doing more of those. There's a need for that in the circuit of events that go around California. There's more shows that are approaching us, because our facilities are centrally located. We have lots of parking so it makes it really good for them. (Also) getting more weddings out here, more non-profit fundraising events out here.

Q: So at Olcotts, you mentioned your daughter (Lauren Olcott) is taking over your duties? Is much going to change there?

A: No. She's got a great eye for merchandise; she knows what sells. You know, growing up in it, she's just done a terrific job. I'm really proud of her. And my other kids have been involved in the business also. My brother does most of the financial part of the business.

Q: What are some of the duties of the fair CEO that are a little less visible? What do you want people to know about the job?

A: Probably how big of a job it is to maintain the property. It's a lot. The painting -- a lot of buildings need attention. I think a lot of people don't realize we're planning events all year long, and we have a great staff here that's been doing it for years. Right now, we're sanding tables down to make them smooth, refurnishing, doing welding, all that.

Q: What are some fair trends you've seen over the past couple of years?

A: The food has been very big and the livestock area with our animals. Our attendance has grown. Last year was our banner year. Increased attendance, increased concession stands, increased livestock sales. It was just a banner year. About 420,000 attended, I believe.

Q: What are some of the acts that might be coming to this year's fair?

A: Blue Oyster Cult, Tower of Power, Aaron Tippin, I believe. I'm not sure about the other ones we're working on. I can't say because contracts haven't been signed.

Q: What makes the Kern County Fair stand out as unique among county fairs?

A: I think because of how diverse it is -- everyone, from the people in the city who may have not raised animals or done agriculture. The people who are coming in from different communities, coming out and seeing our food, our livestock events and what we have to offer. The carnival's huge ... They love the rides, they love the atmosphere, the concessions that (the fair) brings, it's everything. This community always rallies around events like this and I'm really glad that they do.

Q: What are some crazy foods that we maybe didn't have last year that we're looking at for this year?

A: The only thing that some fairs have is the deep-fried butter and the deep-fried pickles. We haven't had those back in a long time. I don't know if any of the vendors are going to be supplying them this year or not. Last year, (a booth) had deep-fried Kool-Aid. We tried that. (People like) anything fried -- the DeMolay corn dogs are always a big hit. The firefighters have the Philly cheese steak, baked potatoes at the Boy Scouts (booth) ... You can tell I like the food. I like it all!

Q: Is that a big priority around here? If something changes or goes away do people get upset?

A: Yeah, people get upset. They like the (non-profit run) booths, they like to support them and go back to them year after year.

Q: Anything else you want to add?

A: That's pretty much it. I really want to focus on the education. Educating our youth about what we do, what our community does as far as agriculture, lifestyle. We also want them to know this is their community, we represent them -- this is them. We want them to have ownership in the fair and be a big part in it.