DEL MAR, Calif. — Every year at the San Diego County Fair it seems one booth steals the show.
In this Zevely Zone, I followed a long line of fairgoers to an alpaca love fest.
That's where I found a table full of Alpaca merchandise. There were backpacks, hats, slippers, stuffed animals, gloves and so much more made from alpaca fur.
Here are some of the many comments made by fairgoers:
"Look at those faces."
"They are really cute."
"Oh, I think they are fascinating."
Welcome to everything alpaca! They are the darlings of the San Diego County Fair, just ask the mobs of people lining up to catch a glimpse of them. I spotted a young boy and said, "You could be on a rollercoaster right now, but you came to see the alpacas. How come?"
He told me, "They are really fluffy."
"That's what alpaca feels like without the dirt," said Dave Davies. He and his wife Barbara are the owners of A Simpler Time Alpacas & Mill. I asked them what they knew about alpacas before becoming enamored with the animals. "Absolutely nothing," laughed Barbara.
They now own 47 of them that you can visit in the hills of El Cajon. That's where they shave the animals once a year, then use a fiber mill to turn the fur into yarn.
"This one is very, very soft," said one fairgoer.
Visitors are asked to feel the difference between itchy sheep's wool and the velvety touch of alpaca in sample boxes.
I asked a silly question. "Isn't this the same as sheep's wool?"
I almost got tossed out of the fair. "No!!" said two fairgoers at the same time while feeling a sweater made from alpaca fur.
"Those sweaters over there, they are amazing," said one visitor.
Why else would you buy one on a hot summer day?
"The wool is really breathable and comfortable it doesn't irritate," said a man who had just purchased an alpaca sweater on a 75-degree day.
Most people describe the doe-eyed animals as kind. I didn't want to spoil the mood but a few years ago an alpaca spit on me during a Zevely Zone story.
"Did you see the segment when the alpaca tuned me up with saliva?" I asked. Most people have never been spit on, but ask the following question a few times about alpacas, you're going to get a different answer.
"Did you get spit on?" I asked. A fairgoer told me, "Yes, I did too, oh jeez, I would get out of my car, and he would spit on me and that's why I don't like them," said one fairgoer about an incident that occurred years ago in another state.
Barbara Davies thinks that maybe we were spit on by llamas, not alpacas. "I mean look at them who can resist?" said Barbara who offered me an alpaca do-over.
"Can I get a little bit closer?" I asked as I entered their pen.
At first, I got the cold shoulder from the alpacas, but ever so slowly I inched closer. "Oh, yeah," I said upon first contact with them. I am proud to say I bonded with the 'fair phenoms' until we even kissed and made up. "I call that a redemption," I said after stealing an alpaca kiss.
You can find "A Simpler Time Alpaca booth" at the California Grown Exhibit. For more information about their ranch, click here.