“Something out of nothing.” Bringing creativity to Fairplex.

May 1, 2013

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou

If you’ve ever been to the L.A. County Fair, you’ve seen it. You’ve walked through FairView Farms. You encountered dinosaurs in the lush jungles of the Exposition Center a couple years ago. You were transported to London’s finest gardens and monuments. And you might have seen a pirate ship or barn make its way through the fairgrounds during a parade.

We don’t use pixie dust here…

Meet the mastermind behind it all: Kathy Wadham, creator extraordinaire or as her business card says: Director of Creative Programming. Staying true to Maya Angelou’s quote, her never-ending well of ideas continues to bring the fun to Fairplex. Her M.O.? “How hard could it be to make? There are no problems, only solutions.”

As we move towards Fairtime Kathy will be blogging her secret tips and tricks for how she transforms our quiet campus into a riotous, colorful playground and share some of her ideas with you for your own home or event.

“I have to say, I am one very lucky girl–I get to do a job that I love!” she says. “Simply put: I get to create the impossible.  Every day holds a different challenge for my extremely creative team and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Being creative makes me happy; it is just part of who I am.”

Besides the Fair, Kathy and the creative team are kept busy with the other Fairplex events like holiday festivities, Oktoberfest and most recently, the Upland Lemon Festival.

Meet the creative team

Kathy and her team makes ‘something out of nothing’ on a regular basis. What was once a pile of scrape wood, buckets of leftover paint and a collection of nails, screws and splinters morphed an old-fashioned lemonade stand, perfect as a photo prop. Other creations included a western town, wine garden and the Circus.

Innate creativity 

London, L.A. County Fair 2012

Creativity comes naturally to Kathy. You might say she was born with it. “I have been making “something out of nothing” since I was a little girl,” she told us. “I used to make my own paper dolls and clothes out of old wallpaper books, brown grocery bags, scraps of fabric and lace.  In high school, I made my own clothes, because I wanted something different to wear every day. Remember Newberry’s? You could buy fabric for .50 cents a yard and could make a dress for less than $2 dollars. To this day, I never really wear the same things together the same way more than once. I just love the color combinations.”

I can personally attest to that last one. Kathy is always in something unique and colorful, always stylish, never gaudy 🙂

When she’s not creating something for Fairplex, Kathy can be found sipping Starbucks, browsing Pinterest (her obsession) and Etsy, watching TV (“my favorite shows are NCIS, Castle, Revenge, Scandal and HGTV”), shopping Target, Loft and HomeGoods and decorating and redecorating her house. Other loves include statement necklaces, clothes (“lots and lots of clothes”) and everything about the beach. She is married with three daughters and five wonderful grandchildren that call her Nana.

Coming up …

Kathy will be sharing her tips on creating a multitude of fun things. Summer’s coming fast and she has plenty of ways to bring the beach to your home (minus the pounds of seaweed and sand.)

What are some of your favorite Fair attractions Kathy has made?

Tell us in the comment section below….

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