Sentimental favorites and new attractions await visitors to the 24th annual Youth Expo, which will be held May 2-4 at the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center.

Youth Expo, an educational fair celebrating the accomplishments of Orange
County youth, brings together pre-schoolers through high school students to showcase their talents. An estimated 17,000 youngsters are expected to exhibit their work.

The theme of this year's Expo, "Once Upon a Vine – Salute to Tomatoes and Magical Gardens," will be reflected in many of the participants' projects and in clip art created by children for the Competition Handbook.

Joan Hamill, OCFEC Manager of Exhibits & Entertainment, said that she believes more programming will increase interest in the 2003 Youth Expo. Among the possibilities, she said, are Grandstand Arena shows geared towards children.

One of the new contests will be the Lil' Sprouts Junior Farm and Garden Contest, modeled after the Farm and Garden contest held during the annual Fair. Children will show off their home grown fruits and vegetables such as lemons, oranges, strawberries, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

Another new contest is the Storybook Magical Gardens landscape competition in which a class or youth organization creates a landscape depicting their favorite fairytale or classic story. Youth Expo will supply the fencing and the soil, the entrants supply the rest. A $100 premium will be paid to the winner, $75 to second place and $50 to third place.

Running concurrently with Youth Expo will be the annual Talent Search, Jazz Festival, and the 48th annual Orange County Science and Engineering Fair. Winners in the Talent Search are invited to participate in the annual Orange County Fair.

Junior high and high school bands will compete in the 13th annual Jazz Festival Friday and Saturday, May 2 and 3.

Hundreds of technical-minded youths take part every year in the Science and Engineering Fair. Each year the creator of the winning project is awarded a scholarship to attend the International Summer Science Institute, an annual pre-college workshop held at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

In addition, the Orange County Department of Education will return with some challenging contests that it brings to each year's Youth Expo. One is the Elementary Science Olympiad, in which teams of 4th, 5th and 6th graders vie in activities that encourage learning in biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, problem-solving and technology. Students of different academic and cultural backgrounds learn to cooperate and share skills for a team success.

Future Inventors of Orange County, jointly sponsored by the Orange County Department of Education and Invent America, allows pupils between 3rd and 8th grade to develop creative solutions to unique situations.

Always a popular attraction, the Pampered Pet Contest will determine which animal has the softest fur, sweetest face, longest ears, looks most like its master, performs the silliest trick, and is best dressed.

School projects are the heart of Youth Expo as the students compete in age and grade categories that include architectural drawings, ceramics, collections, crafts, creative writing, fine arts, group projects, photography, poetry, science, computer technology and social studies.

The school projects will be in Building 10, 4-H projects in Building 17, Girl Scouts projects in Building 12, and the Science & Engineering Fair in Building 14.

Competition handbooks for Youth Expo are available online at www.ocfair.com or by calling (714) 708-1553.