Beach Boys Return as Headliners for This Year’s County Fair

The Beach Boys will be among the featured acts performing at this year’s Ventura County Fair, the first time the legendary band has played at the festival since 1986, officials announced Tuesday.

In addition, ‘70s rocker Peter Frampton, country artist Toby Keith and casino-circuit crooner Debbie Reynolds will be performing at the fair, to be held Aug. 4-15 at Seaside Park, officials said. Three more acts have yet to be booked.

The Beach Boys played the Seaside Park stage in 1982, 1984 and 1986, but the fair has been unable to afford their good vibrations since, said publicist Teri Raley. Popular demand and a bigger budget are bringing the surfer group back.

“The Beach Boys’ music reflects this piece of geography. They as individuals like this area, and I think they perform particularly well here,” Raley said. “It’s hard to beat putting the Beach Boys on a stage right next to the ocean.”

Frampton, a singer, songwriter and guitarist who boasts the biggest-selling live album in rock history, performed at the Los Angeles County Fair last fall but has never played Ventura County’s fair. His more popular songs include “Show Me the Way” and “Do You Feel Like We Do?”

“Nostalgia is a very good draw, and Peter Frampton sort of fits into both the rock category and the nostalgia category,” Raley said.

Keith has three million-selling albums and eight No. 1 hits to his name, which Raley admitted may be unfamiliar to many.

“I would not have recognized the name,” she said, “but I looked down his playlist and recognized practically all his songs.”

Keith’s hits include “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” “You Ain’t Much Fun” and “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying.” What the former oil field worker and semipro football player lacks in name recognition, he makes up for in “rugged good looks,” fair officials said.

A second country act should be booked within a few weeks, Raley said.

“Country always does particularly well at the fair,” she said. “It’s the right kind of venue for it.”

Movie and Broadway star Reynolds, with songs such as “Tammy” and “Abba Dabba Honeymoon,” has been headlining in Las Vegas, Tahoe and Reno for more than two decades. She will put on a matinee show during the fair’s Senior Day.

“She’s just bright sunny, wonderful, happy, cheerful music, and I think it will be a slice of nostalgia that the seniors will particularly enjoy,” Raley said.

The 1999 fair’s other nighttime entertainment includes motor sports, a night of Latino-influenced music and a rodeo.

This year’s 12-night entertainment schedule will break from recent tradition by not offering an urban contemporary act, because a show last year by hip-hop group Next that featured obscene language and gestures was deemed inappropriate for the fair’s audience, Raley said.