Pictures of Pride at County Fair’s Annual Exhibitor Reception

They sampled cheese and crackers, listened to an Encinitas band called The Flounders and admired more than 1,300 stunning images—including their own.

“It’s a happening party,” said Ron Ham of Thursday night’s annual reception for exhibitors at the San Diego County Fair’s photography show.

Ham, coordinator of the prestigious show for the second year and involved with it for six, said as many as 600 people, including some from the Fine Arts reception downstairs, visited the photo exhibit.

“It’s the first time everyone sees who won [ribbons],” said Ham, a former Union-Tribune reporter and editor who said his first job was taking pictures for a weekly newspaper “back in the black-and-white film days.”

“It’s like a traditional artist reception for a gallery,” he said.

Nearly 4,000 images were submitted and “1,300-1,400 are hanging,” Ham said.

The guitar band played in the adjacent Veranda Café of the grandstands.

“They play at local restaurants,” Ham said. “One of its guitar players/singers is Lou Shook, who is a member of our Photo Show crew. … It was the first year we’ve had a band play at our reception, and the crowd seemed to like it.”

Ham noted that much of photo display walls stretching along the south side of the gallery cover two parimutuels—“a long line of betting stations during the thoroughbred racing season.”

But it wasn’t just the visitors who were having a good time Thursday night.

“Our crewmembers (more than a dozen) said they had a lot of fun, too,” Ham said.