Design and Decor Supervisor Mathew P. Willmann wants to take Orange County fairgoers on a journey to their happy place.
He conceived this year’s OC Fair theme: “Find Your Happy,” and with his imagination and the help of one full-time and six part-time workers/artists, he’s leading the way.
By the time the monthlong fair opens in Costa Mesa on Friday, July 18, Willmann will have spent 960 hours planning and prepping, and he and his team will have spent four weeks setting up.
Willmann, 31, oversees the design of the entire 150-acre fairgrounds.
It’s a dream job for a creative California guy who started out as a 6-year-old decorating family weddings before studying theater in Fullerton, pushing magic out of Mary Poppins’ bag in community theater, and haunting Knott’s Berry Farm.
His artistic flair is evident everywhere at the fair. But a focal point is the Sand and Sea exhibit in the 19,285-square-foot OC Promenade building.
“This is my main kahuna,” Willmann said of the exhibit, which features visual and artistic details in every corner.
Elements of the exhibit, which debuted last year, spent the long offseason in storage at the fairgrounds, packed in 8-by-20-foot shipping containers.
Disguised as art, with hand-painted murals on each side, the containers were moved into the Promenade last month, and their storage area became the so-called swine tent, home for 4-H animals that will be coming for the fair.
“When the stuff comes out, the pigs go in,” Willmann joked.
From the containers, workers unpacked enough display cases, refrigerators and knick-knacks to fill the cavernous Promenade where Willmann’s vision takes flight.
Sand and Sea will feature 10 local landmark displays where visitors can learn about the community’s history. There will be crafts, culinary demonstrations, live music, touch tanks with fish, and virtual-reality deep-sea dives. Visitors can participate in a scavenger hunt for prizes and learn about local coastlines, Willmann said.
Large cabinets will display the thousands of cookies, cakes, pies and other culinary delights submitted by the public for judging.
Creating excitement
Willmann was born and raised in Hanford, a central California town he described as quiet and “known for its historic downtown, dairy industry and really good ice cream.” There was not much for a kid to do there.
“I had to create my excitement,” he recalled. “I think that’s where my creativity was born.”
Willmann’s mother was one of 16 children. With that came huge family weddings.
“We had no wedding planners or decorators,” Willmann said. His mother, eight aunts “and little Mathew” would gather at Aunt Fatima’s house, just a few doors down from his own. There, they would hand sew hundreds of napkins and tablecloths for events.
His older sister had no interest in any of it. “She got the brains,” Willmann said. “I got the creativity.”
When Willmann was 12, he wanted to redecorate his bedroom, so he got a job at the Hanford Sentinel as a newspaper boy. Delivering 72 papers every day, he earned enough money to buy all new furniture from Walmart.
In high school, Willmann led the theater set and prop team, which piqued his interest in theatrical design. In 2011, he enrolled at Cal State Fullerton and majored in theater. While a student, he got a job at Knott’s Berry Farm, selling skull-shaped shot glasses from a tiny booth under the clickety wooden Ghost Rider roller coaster.
Willmann’s next “super exciting” job was at a prop and set dressing company in Torrance, where he earned $500 a show. As a prop master, Willmann was responsible for creating the magical props used in a “Mary Poppins” production, figuring out how to make a 6-foot-tall coat rack fit into a big purse.
He hid under a table during productions at the Redondo Performing Arts Center in Torrance and the historic Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro, piecing the rack together as quickly as the Poppins actress pulled it out. It took a lot of coordination and nonverbal communication, he said.
After graduating from college Willmann again worked at Knott’s, this time as a seasonal employee in the prop and set dressing department. He was promoted to head of the department after two years and stayed there for 11, creating mazes and dead bodies for Halloween, decorating 32 Christmas trees in winter, and crafting oversized pie sculptures for the park’s roving Snoopy.
But Willmann’s creative mind wandered. He wanted to do more design work, he said, and the OC Fair offered him free rein without a template.
He was hired three years ago and designed the Sand and Sea exhibit for last year’s fair. “It highlights our coastline and the businesses and organizations that make it so magical,” he said.
This year’s version will be similar, but with fresh touches such as Sandra Castle, one of several strolling characters who will perform on-the-spot activities with guests to inspire creativity, Willmann said.
His goal is to bring as many of the fair’s expected 1 million visitors into the Promenade from its two wide entrances during the 23-day run. He wants to educate visitors about the environment with compelling displays and “trick them into learning something” about beaches and protecting wildlife, Willmann said. “Effortless learning is my motto.”
Recently, employee Sarah Vanderpool spotted Willmann and stopped to hug him. The 8-year employee made him blush as she complimented his work. “You don’t think out of the box,” she enthused, “You created the box!” Then added, “and you have a gentle heart.”
Willmann credits his band of artists.
“Their skill sets are so varied,” he said. “I give them loose design ideas with parameters. I don’t want the building to look only like my brain.”
Allowing different styles is “so diversifying and resonates with different people,” he added.
After the fair opens, Willmann will be roaming the Promenade, pad and pen in hand, taking notes, observing how people react to his team’s creations, and thinking about next year’s design.
Hint: It might have something to do with National Parks.
If you go
When: The OC Fair is open Wednesdays through Sundays from July 18 to Aug. 17; hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays
Where: The OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa
Cost: General admission is $13 on Wednesdays and Thursdays and $15 on other days; seniors and children are $9 daily. Tickets, which are already on sale, must be purchased at ocfair.com/tickets and there is a daily attendance cap, so popular dates may sell out. There is a $60 everyday passport available.
For more information: ocfair.com/tickets