Youth Perspectives: County Fair Attracts Student Workers

Every summer, thousands of Bay Area visitors come to the annual Alameda County Fair. But along with vacationing families, vendors, and horse-race enthusiasts, the fair draws in another group--young students from near and far looking for summer jobs.

The employment opportunities at the fair are as diverse as the students who seek them. From concession stands to animal raising to rides and games, high school to college-age workers can be found everywhere within the fair.

I profiled several working teens whose unique stories create a colorful snapshot of the county fair.

"I think the fair attracts students because it's one of the few places that wants to hire teenagers," says Amador Valley High School graduate Kimberly Flaig. "It's a great summer job."

In the fall, Flaig will attend San Francisco State University.

Flaig, 18, has been working at the Alameda County Fair's concession stands for three years. Each summer, she works the register for Capital Concessions, which runs a stand near the concert stadium and kiddie rides and sells corndogs, cold drinks, and other icy refreshments.

Though Flaig's schedule makes her work anywhere from 4-8 hours a day for 4-5 days a week in the heat of the summer, she says "the work isn't too hard, and you get free access into the fair and free fair food."

Danielle Scroggins, a senior at University of California, Santa Cruz, also agrees that the fair is a wonderful employment opportunity in a presently shaky economy.

Scroggins sees a very different side of the fair than Flaig. For 4 years, Scroggins has spent her summers helping to take care of barnyard animals, cleaning pens, and organizing educational display.

Scroggins first started working with animals at the fair since she the first grade. She started raising rabbits, and then moved on to raise pigs, cows, sheep, and goats for the various 4-H displays in the County Fair.

Scroggins says her favorite animals to work with are "pigs, because they are the smartest, cutest, and grow the fastest."

While working, Scroggins answers questions from curious and awestruck onlookers about the size and age of the sows in the pigpens.

"We time the births so that the public can see," she says. "I love educating and working with the public."

Student workers are not just from the Bay Area. Some, like John W. North High School graduate Ignacio Cardenas, come from as far south as Riverside to work at the county fair.

Cardenas works in the games stations next to the many theme park rides in the Alameda County Fair. This was his first year working, but he said his brother had previously been employed at the fair.

Cardenas and his coworkers travel with the fair, sleeping in bunkhouses and working 12-hour days. Working in the games is exhausting, Cardenas admits, and sometimes stressful. "But it's a good place to start," he says with a smile.

"We work for commission, unlike those who work at the rides," he said.

Ride workers are paid hourly, but Cardenas is only paid as much as he can entice customers into playing carnival games. For a recent high school graduate, Cardenas has learned the tricks of the trade, offering free tries to passersby and being patient and courteous.

Cardenas will travel from Alameda's fair to Sacramento's County Fair, before returning back to Riverside to continue his education at Riverside Community College.