Bay Area County Fairs – Visiting All 9 of Them – Which is Your Favorite?

 Bay Area County Fairs – Visiting All 9 of Them – Which is Your Favorite?

Now that we’re deep into the Fair and Festival Summer Season, we thought it might be of interest to review some of the fairs.    If we were to include all the Bay Area Fairs and Festivals there would be  far too many, so we thought we’d just go with the Grandaddy of Fairs, the County Fair – and the San Francisco Bay Area boasts nine of them – and they all have  distinct personalities.Most of the fairs are over now but it’s still fun to look back- and you can save this guide, bookmark website for next year. Meanwhile, some of these classic fairgrounds have other entertainment/events during the year. Horseracing has dissappeared from some of the fairs, with only Alameda, Napa and Sacramento still offering horseracing, to our knowledge. Find bay area concerts, alameda county

County Fairs evolved out of farming, when farming was large part of  the scene. Now farms are almost non-existant in the Bay Area as land values boom and housing has replaced them. Kids joined 4H clubs and would enter animals or projects and win awards.  This still goes on at most of the Bay Area Fairs, but one county, San Francisco, seems to have even discontinued it’s ‘urban’ fair that ran up until a few years ago. County of fairs of today have become more commercial. Gone are many of the old farming exhibits, for which the fairs were originally designed around.   It seems more about attracting bodies than family fun anymore.  Gone, too, are the family-oriented , oldies concerts as newer  fair committees seem to be going after the supposed ‘affluent’ younger demographics. It might be working, with attendance seeming to be up, but seeming to sacrifice that old nostalgic ‘feel’of the county fair.  

Now, with the digital age, too, county fairs may seem passe’ for some, though others have tried to adapt to the times, with digital programs – though it just doesn’t seem to fit the old county fair ‘down home’ tradtion.
For this reason, we will give our unofficial Top Bay Area County Fair to probably the most traditional one,
that has kept true to the county fair tradion. Read On…

 9) CONTRA COSTA COUNTY FAIR,  Antioch
Contra Costa County Fair
May 30-June 2
1201 W. 10th St.
Antioch, CA 94509
Website

Poor little Contra Costa Fair.Though the grounds seem pretty original and feature a monument  dedicated to President Kennedy in 1963, the fair only runs three days and that’s probably because there’s just not much there.  No horse raising no big name concerts, no gardens, just a single row of exhibits and foods  and a small mid-way. This year the fair ran the first weekend of June and did feature a roller derby exhibition and an Aerosmith tribute band.   Perhaps the CC Fair isn’t so popular since the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton is bigger and closer to many residents of Contra Costa! No horseracing

8)
Santa Clara County Fair
August 1-4
Santa Clara County Fairgounds
344 Tully Rd.
San Jose, CA 95111
Website

 

7)

Features  live music, livestockeducation, famous fair food & drink and all the Fair flair you’ve come to expect from the San Mateo County Fair! See the pig races, a variety of entertainment, a horse show, a kids train, and all of your county fair favorites.

 

County Fair too small potatoes for you? Then head east and visit the California State Fair. The seventeen-day fair is a robust celebration of the State of California, its industries, agriculture and diversity of its people. Every summer the State Fair is all about BIG FUN, providing entertainment and education to inspire the young and young at heart! Performers include En Vogue, LeAnn Rimes, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and so much more. Online purchasing is your best bet for a deal.

The Grand Daddy – but not necessarily the best – of Bay Area  and State fairs.  Really outside the Bay Area but worth the short hour plus drive from San Francisco. The CA State Fair has everything, including horse racing, big name entertainment, acres of exhibits, games and midway and lots of food stands.  It   is the largest fair in area but doesn’t have a band stand like Alameda or Solano.  We’ve seen some good old family acts like Wierd Al and Lou Christie and Little Anthony but the entertainment of late has been directed more at the teen and twenties market, rather than families

2)  ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIR, Pleasanton
Alameda County Fair
June 19–July 7 (closed Mondays)
Alameda County Fairgrounds
Pleasanton, CA 94566
Website
$10 admission

For years, this was THE fair in the Bay Area, in our opinion. It’s one of the oldest – having celebrated it’s 100th anniversary-  still has perhaps the most beautiful grounds of any,  with
acres of tall and shade trees and lawns, many exhibit buildings and it’s own  amphitheater for concerts (it seats around 1,000 people) .  Top name entertainers have graced its stage over the fair’s long history,
names such as Johnny Cash, Rick Nelson, Brenda Lee,  Pat Boone, Annette and Frankie, The Platters, Eddie Rabbit, Freddy Fender, Marty Robbins, Bo Diddley, Neil Sedaka and comedians such as George Kirby, Pat Paulson, Smothers Brothers,  Paul Rodriquez and Paula Poundstone.
Unlike other fairs, the concerts have always been included free with fair admission. There used to be
two shows a night. which was also different from most fairs, but that changed with a lot of other things
with new management in recent years.  Much of the family-friendly entertainment seems to have given way to teen attract the teen market; gone are the great ‘oldies’s shows like Donnie Brooks’ Cavalcade of Stars (Tiny Tim, Al Wilson, Pat Upton of Spiral Staircase, Cannibal and the Headhunters, etc)  in favor of newer acts catering to a younger crowd.  A large televised screen has been added for over-flow crowds. The fair also features several other nice performing venues including a beautiful wine garden near an equally beautiful garden display, where fine bluesman Terry Hanks and his    group  have held for nightly for the past decade, at least.  The new fair has taken advantage of modern social media, plus an apparent large ad budget to attract large crowds – almost too large, in our opinion. For this and that the fair has gotten away from the original intent of the county fair, we have gone with the following as our No. 1 Favorite Fair this year….

The Winner:
 1) SOLANO COUNTY FAIR, Vallejo
Solano County Fair
July 31-August 4
900 Fairgrounds Dr.
Vallejo, CA 94589
Website

  Fair the only to feature nightly fireworks. It still has  free concerts – and the only offering truly family fair, this year featuring 50s and 60s acts like LIttle Anthony, Guess Who and Temptations. The Solano County Fair is a show-stopper! With livestock auctions, the Solano Community Showcase Talent Show, Blue Ribbon Competitions and a family-friendly, traditional county fair-vibe, Solano County Fair is an easy choice for a summer adventure.

It’s not the biggest and it’s not the newest. It no longer has a race track and it only runs a week.  In fact, it’s got a lot of rough edges, as one of the older fairgrounds, built in 1950. But these are things that gives this fair the old ‘county fair charm’  many of the others, like Alameda, have lost. Solano is very family-friendly, despite it’s inner-city location and has a nice mix of attendees of all ages and ethnic groups;  it wasn’t over-crowed as some of the fairs this year. It also features a nice mix of entertainment, perhaps the only venue dipping back into the family-friendly oldies acts, this year featuring Little Anthony and the Imperials and the Guess Who on its huge stage/concert grandstand area with excellent sound.  The setting is right out of the Fifties, with pastoral lands ala Alameda Fair and  nary a change in those 64 years.  The fair which ran the last week of July, even featured a vintage car show, an exhibit on the history of state parks and had an excellent fireworks display, despite the fair’s smaller stature.  It may not truly deserve the No. 1 Bay Area County Fair ranking but we want to go with it in what may be the fair’s last year in it’s original habitat as talks are  underway to renovate the fairgrounds. MORE from this year’s show including Little Anthony performing. 

This fair is what a county fair should be like. Kudos to Solano County Fair for maintaining the originality of fairs you don’t see  much anymore. The fair is right out of the Golden Era of the 1950s when county fairs had their heyday. We’re sorry to hear theis may change next year with renovation. But , enjoy the grounds or other events at this fine fairground while you can.