FAIR TIMES AHEAD.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

Forsaking golden shovels in favor of pitchforks and using a minifair as a backdrop, officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for the new, $18 million Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.

Braving winds of more than 40 mph, a crowd of about 200 turned out to celebrate the milestone in the development of the 135-acre site near Avenue G and the Antelope Valley Freeway (14). Behind the festivities was heavy equipment that will be used in a $2.1 million project to prepare the site.

``We will now have what will be a marvelous, marvelous fairgrounds for the future,'' said Fair Board Director Ralph Bozigian. ``It will be a diamond in the desert.''

The Fair Board and Lancaster officials have been working since 1991 to relocate the fairgrounds from the 75-acre site at Avenue I and Division Street. Purchased with proceeds from a hay auction in 1938, the existing site is deemed too small and is hemmed in by development.

Depending on the speed of construction, a fair could be held at the new site as early as 2002 or as late as 2004.

``It's a relief to get to this point,'' said Dan Jacobs, fair manager. ``We have to gear up to get to where we need to be. There's still a lot of work to do.''

The groundbreaking itself was elaborate. The event included a working carousel, a carnival game booth, a Cinnabons food booth, two Western store facades one a saloon, the other a combination barber shop and undertaker and livestock pens with a few goats, pigs and a llama.

Despite a wind storm that was at times blinding, the event stayed upbeat. The Quartz Hill High School marching band provided entertainment; the Antelope Valley High School Cadet Corps performed the flag ceremony; and the Lancaster High School Show and Acappella Choir sang the National Anthem.

Plans for the new fairgrounds include a new watch-and-wager satellite betting facility, two main exhibit halls, a 10,000-square-foot show arena with an 85-foot tall clock tower, livestock barns, and a grandstand capable of handling 7,000 people.

The fairgrounds master plan also includes an 85,000-square-foot covered horse arena that could be converted into an ice hockey rink. There is no funding available at present for that $6.5 million project.

There is $4.25 million for the project included in a $2.1 billion parks bond measure that will go before voters in March.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- 2 -- color) At the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new, 135-acre Ante lope Valley Fair & Alfalfa Festival site on Avenue G, 2 1/2-year-old D.J. Morales, above, peers at the pigs, while below, a group of high school students take aim at the Water Gun Fun booth.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer