The Santa Cruz County Fair kicked off Wednesday, welcoming visitors to a vibrant world of “Apple Pies and Starry Skies.”
A crowd of more than 100 watched the ribbon-cutting ceremony after hearing welcoming words and gratitude for those who made it happen.
As the crowd gathered for the opening ceremony, Jeremy Shafer—better known as Jeremy the Juggler—surprised visitors when he sang a song with Mariachi California.
Shafer has been a part of the Santa Cruz County Fair for more than 15 years. Based in Berkeley, Shafer travels around the state as Jeremy the Juggler, a unicycling comedian dressed head to toe in rainbow tie-dye who—you guessed it—also juggles.
Shafer picked up juggling when he was 10 years old, but didn’t hop on a unicycle until he was 14 at Camp Winnarainbow, a circus arts camp in Northern California.
His entertainment career began almost by accident at the Solano Avenue Stroll when Shafer, abandoned by his juggling buddies, signed up as a solo act and walked away with birthday party clients.
His connection to Santa Cruz is deeper than just the fair. Shafer attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was an active part of Los Mejicas, a folkloric dance troupe that is still active today and gave Shafer the skills he needed to hop in with Mariachi California.
“With UCSC so close by, this is basically my alma mater fair,” Shafer said with a laugh. “I used to ride my unicycle up and down the campus from downtown. It was my favorite part of the day, so every year I would move further away from the campus to elongate my time.”
Off the unicycle, Shafer is an origami YouTube creator with more than 760,000 subscribers who follow along as he creates gnomes, dinosaurs, snap-open boxes and even Pokémon.
“I love fairs in general,” Shafer said. “I love the connection with people and making the little kids laugh. That’s the point of my whole juggling thing—just watching them giggle and running around, saludando a la gente (waving to the people).”
For some, this isn’t their first time on the block.
John Kegebein has been enjoying this fair and the grounds it sits on since 1963.
“I think it is a real asset to our community to have something up here where people can participate on a year-round basis on these fairgrounds,” Kegebein said. “They do all kinds of things out here.”
His fair journey began when he took a maintenance job at age 27 that he held for around 20 years. After that, Kegebein volunteered as co-chair and eventually worked as fair manager. Since his retirement in 1998, he has been heavily involved in the Agriculture History Project, a permanent part of the fairgrounds that keeps Pajaro Valley’s agricultural history alive.
From funnel cakes to turkey legs, keeping the fair fed is a whole other beast.
Abigail Madaus at Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls is all too familiar with that challenge.
“I was born into it,” Madaus said. “It’s literally in my blood.”
Seeing as how her mother went into labor at the stand, she means it, too.
Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls is a family-owned and operated fair stand that’s been running for almost 50 years across three generations. Beginning with Madaus’s grandparents in 1978, the business is now run by Madaus’s dad and his siblings, each of whom runs a stand with their partner.
Between 23-year-old Madaus, her siblings and her cousins, there are 10 grandchildren able to take on the business, but Madaus says there’s no pressure.
“There’s a big legacy to uphold,” Madaus said. “If none of us do it, then what happens to the business? But all of our parents are really supportive of whatever we do.”
Madaus lives in Chicago and flies back and forth to help her parents manage the stand and “work the buns” during their busy season, which runs from late spring to early fall. She also runs their social media and helps manage customer outreach.
“Now that I’m starting to help with more important roles in the business, I have a much deeper appreciation for our legacy and what we mean to the communities,” Madaus said. “It’s so great to come to Santa Cruz, too. This really is such a cute, fun fair.”
The family has been using the same recipe since the business’s inception, using a special blend of proprietary flour to make each roll from scratch. This year, Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls brought along two new flavors: Biscoff and caramel apple sundae.
Working the fair circuit is an unconventional, more nomadic lifestyle, Madaus says. Workers camp at each fair, sometimes for weeks at a time, bringing RVs with them to make the lifestyle a little more comfortable.
Though not everyone working at the company is family by blood, the familial bond runs deep. Some employees have been traveling with the stand for 15 years, and now their kids are helping out, too.
Despite a lifetime of cinnamon rolls, Madaus isn’t sick of them yet. Right now, she prefers a simple roll with cream cheese frosting and apple topping, but the new caramel apple sundae has been her go-to when she’s craving something sweet.
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The fair runs through Sunday, with extended hours from 10am-11pm on the weekend.
Visit santacruzcountyfair.com.
Syd Fluker is a California Local News Fellow. Visit (fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows).
