Get Xtremely Amped at the Fair
By Diane Booth Conway,
Merced County Fair Publicity Director

   Prepare to be entertained to the extreme when “Xtremely Amped” debuts at the 2007 Merced County Fair’s Toyota Grandstand, Friday, July 20.
   Xtremely Amped is the ultimate combination of high-flying extreme sports stunts and live, high voltage rock music. The 90-minute high-energy show is a new attraction at the 2007 Merced County Fair. The Toyota Grandstand event kicks off at 7:30 p.m.
   This isn’t your Grandma’s Grandstand event! Freestyle motocross and extreme sports are incredibly popular and this show takes it to the max, leaving audiences on their feet and cheering for more.
    Two live bands are constantly pumping out rock favorites as the audience is treated to one crowd-pleasing, extreme-sport spectacular after another. Take a line-up of pro-level skaters, BMX, and motocross riders and morph that attraction with powerhouse, pro-level rockers and your whole audience is bound to get Xtremely Amped. Talk about an adrenaline rush!
   The show is designed around two separate stages where performers are amped and ready for tag-team rock ’n’ roll. There is a half pipe for skating and BMX action just beyond the center stage and motocross ramps. Motocross riders jump the 65-foot gap with two live bands –one on the left and one on the right -- providing high-energy rock music. At the same time, incredible variety acts make sure there’s something going on every second of the program.
   The audience is kept busy following all the action, going back and forth from one visual to the next. “There are so many different things going on at once -- the bands are rocking away while a juggler is juggling right behind the bands and the audience is watching a guy doing jumps,” said Scott Mason, vice president of That’s Entertainment International (TEI) in Folsom. TEI is the talent-booking agency that created this show last year for the Colusa County Fair in Colusa, north of Sacramento.
   And the audience won’t miss a thing because two 20-foot video screens keep track of every inch of the action and really make it a 3-D experience. “The show is non-stop action, we don’t like downtime,” said Mason.
   “We didn’t want to do the typical show that just has some guys doing jumps with an announcer and breaks in between. We saw the need for something different,” Mason said. “We took a whole new approach and made it non-stop entertainment. It’s a fully scripted, production show that has a lot to do with timing.”
   The attraction has a raw edge to it, Mason said, but added, “It’s a fun, family-friendly show.”
   Xtremely Amped is a monster hit and demand for the show keeps growing, he said, adding, “It’s so popular and it’s getting bigger all the time.” The production was reportedly a huge crowd-pleaser at the 2006 Colusa County Fair and the Yuba Sutter Fair is bringing Xtremely Amped back for the 2007 fair because it was such a success at the 2006 fair.
   “(Xtremely Amped) is the best new and creative grandstand event show I have seen for the fair industry in a long time,” said Ron Brandt, manager of the Merced County Spring Fair in Los Banos. “The show reinvents the wheel with its non-stop entertainment.”
   The show, like all fair entertainment, is free with the price of admission. The rest of the Toyota Grandstand line-up is: Tuesday, July 17, Auto Racing, 7 p.m.; Wednesday, July 18, Destruction Derby, 7 p.m.; Thursday, July 19, Motorcycle/Quad Races, 7 p.m.; Saturday, July 21, Rodeo, 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 22, Bull Riding, 8 p.m.
   The fair runs July 17-22. The 2007 Fair theme is "Gateway to Great Cheese," a salute to cheese, one of the county's top agricultural products.
   For information, call the fair office at 722-1507 or email to Info@MercedCountyFair.com or fax at 722-3773. Visit the 2007 Merced County Fair’s award-winning website, www.MercedCountyFair.com

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