CNS - The Los Angeles County Fair, the nation’s largest, began its 18-day run at Fairplex in Pomona Sept. 7, with the traditional rides, fried foods, horse racing, concerts and a new environmental exhibit.

The Eco Now! Planet-Saving Adventure includes the House of Trash, where visitors can see the amount of trash an average family of four throws away each year. It also includes tips on recycling and reusing everyday products.

The exhibit also includes what is billed as the world’s largest exhaust pipe to illustrate what comes out of a car’s exhaust pipe, and a glacier visitors can touch.

Also new this year is the children’s exhibit, When I Grow Up, a look at a variety of professions.

Rides include the 160-foot high La Grande Wheel, billed as the largest transportable mobile wheel.

The fair’s concerts began Sept. 7 with Latin Legends Live, featuring Tierra with special guests The Salas Brothers, Malo and Thee Midniters, with special guest Little Willie G.

Other concerts include Heart (Saturday); Ciara with special guest 13- year-old Tiffany Evans (Sunday); Tower of Power (Sept. 14); Lifehouse (Sept. 15); Paulina Rubio (Sept. 16); the B-52s (Sept. 21); Big & Rich and Cowboy Troy (Sept. 22) and Earth, Wind & Fire (Sept. 30).

Joining the fair’s fare of deep fried food on a stick is a deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwich drizzled with honey, created in honor of the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death.

Horse racing will be held daily through Sept. 24, except for Tuesdays.

The Los Angeles County Fair will be open Wednesdays through Sundays until Sept. 30.

Opening day admission was $1, until 5 p.m., when it rose to the usual weekday price of $10, $8 for adults age 60 and over and $6 for children ages 6 to 12.

On weekends, tickets are $15, $12 for adults age 60 and over and $10 for children ages 6 to 12. Children under 6 are free throughout the fair.

Various discounts will be offered. Admission is $5 after 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, $5 for adults age 60 and over on Wednesdays and $5 for college students on Thursdays.

The fair drew 1,427,656 people for its 18-day run in 2006, the most since the record 1,612,097 over 24 days in 1991. The fair is the fourth highest attended fair or festival in North America.

The fair evolved from a commercial-industrial show first held along the Southern Pacific railroad siding in downtown Pomona in 1921. It proved so successful the businessmen who produced it held the first Los Angeles County Fair in October 1922.

The fair has been held annually at Fairplex since 1922, except from 1942- 47, when the facility was being used by the U.S. Army for various functions, including as a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian soldiers and a relocation camp for Japanese-Americans.

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