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SUNNY Temp: 79 °F Wind: SE at 5 mph Friday, August 1, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend July 19, 2003 Callan Hartzer helps a motorist find the exit at the Jackson County Fair on Friday. Fair workers agree, parking lot attendants like Hartzer have one of the toughest gigs at the fair. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Made in the shade? Not every job at the Jackson County Fair is fun and games; even the carnies pity parking lot attendants By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Callan Hartzer waves an orange flag in one hand and points toward his right with the other, but the lady in the red Suburban will not be told where to go by some moppy-haired kid. She turns the Suburban left in search of a closer parking space to the Jackson County Fair entrance, but there is none. So she backs down the narrow lane and eventually follows Hartzer’s directions — but ends up 15 spaces farther away than if she’d paid attention in the first place. "All day you get these people who won’t go where you want them to, but I got to put on a good face," smiles Hartzer, 15, of Central Point. "People are, like, so stupid." His "whatever" smile, coupled with quarts of sun screen and gallons of water, is how Hartzer gets through a shift doing something even the garbage-pickers and carnies say is the worst fair job possible — parking lot attendant. Advertisement And it’s not the triple-digit weather that makes it so bad, or even getting doused in dust thick enough to sprout grass. It’s the fair-goers themselves, with all their defiant left turns, curse words and ridiculous questions that make Hartzer’s seven-hour shift more of a sentence than a job. "One person does something wrong and six cars follow them," he says as seven cars inch down a full aisle. "I hate that." About 180 paid people and more than 200 volunteers together make up the people who work at the fair so thousands of people can indulge in the various flavors of a traditional county fair. There’s no shortage of fair jobs that most fair visitors would never tackle. Few burger-eaters would trade places with Dusty Atkinson during his eight straight hours over a hot Antlers Inn burger grill schlepping his cardiac cuisine. "The grease gets under your skin and it won’t come out," Atkinson says. No one’s fighting Dave Main for the controls of "Energy Storm," one of those spinning and twirling carnival rides seemingly designed solely to separate lunch from the munchkins. "Puke on you? Of course they do," Main says. "It goes with the territory." And no one envies Amy Johnson on her "Trashbusters" patrol collecting the dropped food, thousands of cigarette butts and even condom packages from the fair’s concert area. "My first day I had to pick up dog, umm, you know, bathroom," Johnson says. "It’s not cool." Yet even Johnson knows she’s got it better than someone. "The guys in the parking lot got it way worse," Johnson says. "At least I get a little shade." Hartzer’s only shade is beneath his ball cap bill and curly hair. He’s working at the end of a line of orange-flagged attendants funneling the final few vehicles into the fair’s north parking lot. A brown pickup stops 25 yards from the exit. Where’s the exit, the driver says. Hartzer points to the big, obvious EXIT sign straight ahead. "I just don’t know how people can’t see that," he says. A woman with four-inch heels picks through the dirt toward Hartzer, asking which way to the fair. "Right there," he says, pointing to the only buildings in sight. A woman in a green minivan stops in the aisle, so Hartzer flags her forward. She yells angrily that she’s waiting for someone. The caravan halts behind her until a man carrying a car seat gets in the van. "I wish they wouldn’t do that," he says. Same with the people who gun their engines and spew rocks at his legs. That’s more egregious than the girl who gave a single-finger salute as he flagged her toward the rear of the lot. But the worst, Hartzer says, are the people unwilling to park anywhere but right near the gate. They demand special favors, often approaching with sob stories about how much junk they have to carry in. Hartzer obliged one elderly lady, wedging her car near the gate so she could carry in the supposed boat-loads of items in her trunk. "Then she gets out and all she has is one little footstool," he says. "I’m like, come on lady, you were just looking for a closer space." Hartzer earns minimum wage — $6.90 an hour — for his troubles. Better than chopping wood, he says, but not enough to keep that happy face at the end of the day. "When I’m done, I’ll go to the fair and take it out on the carnies," he says. "That helps." Today’s fair schedule 7 a.m.: 4-H Gymkhana, Isola Arena 9 a.m.: Livestock Judging Contest, Olsrud Pavilion 11 a.m.: 4-H Fashion Revue, Dinner Theater Stage 1 p.m.: Tucker Reed, Fountain Plaza 2 p.m.: Victory Tree, Dinner Theater Stage 2 p.m.: Safe Self Defense Training, Fountain Plaza 3 p.m.: Hot Skates Demo Team, Fountain Plaza 4 p.m.: Treasure Hunt, Chaisson Park 5 p.m.: American Taekwando, Fountain Plaza 5 p.m.: Ask Me Later, Dinner Theater Stage 5 p.m.: Buyer’s Barbecue, Olsrud Pavilion 6 p.m.: Special Beauties, Fountain Plaza 6 p.m.: Farrier’s Contest, Isola Arena 7 p.m.: Aaron Tippin, Headline Stage 7 p.m.: Safe Self Defense Training, Fountain Plaza 7:30 p.m.: Beef & Goat Auction, Olsrud Pavilion 7:20 p.m.: Jon Galfano, Fountain Plaza 8 p.m.: Bridge Boys, Dinner Theater Stage 9 p.m.: Aaron Tippin, Headline Stage 9 p.m.: Kendra Cook, Dinner Theater Stage 9:30 p.m.: Fireworks 10 p.m.: Bridge Boys, Dinner Theater Stage The fair is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at the Jackson County Exposition Park, Central Point. It continues through Sunday. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors 62 and over and youth 7-12. From noon to 5 p.m., wristbands allowing unlimited amusement rides are $14. Shuttles provided by the Rogue Valley Transportation District runs on the half-hour until 5 p.m., when they run every 15 minutes. Pickup locations are at the Rogue Valley Mall in Medford and Scenic Middle School in Central Point. Round-trip fare is $1 general, 50 cents for youth 7-12 and seniors. Last shuttle from the fair leaves at midnight. Parking at the fairgrounds is $4. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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