County Fairs

Growing up in South San Francisco, we always looked forward to the San Mateo County Fair. It was more properly known as the San Mateo County Fiesta.

It was usually held in August just before we headed back to school the day after labor day.

The county fair extravaganza was funded by the horse track revenues that it generated. Every county had a horse track in the forties and fifties where once a year horse races were held and betting para mutual betting was allowed. The sport of kings has gradually fallen on to hard times and the county fair horse race metaphor has slipped away. Many county fairs have declined in the importance too.

Our local county fair once had a horse track and the barns that go with it. They have been replaced with a quarter mile auto track. There are some vestiges of the track life. One of the bars in the shady part of town is the turf club. It was not founded or maintained by landscapers. Now the bar is primarily a biker bar.

Our Merced County fair is divided into two. We have a May fair on the West Side for the residents in the Los Banos, Gustine, Dos Palos area and a summer fair for the Merced Atwater Livingston side. Our FFA chapters have the opportunity to compete in both along with the nearby Sanislaus County Fair in Turlock and the Madera county fair in Chowchilla,

This year was a big change. The state fair organizers decided to change the date of their fair. Many of the competitions of the fairs go on to compete in the state fair. With an earlier State Fair, the other counties that wanted to change got their wish. The Merced County fair is usually held at the end of July suddenly was scheduled for the middle of June. The Alameda County fair in Dublin maintained their traditional fair running around July 4th. July 16th is the new scheduled time for the Stanislaus County Fair in Turlock.

The Merced county fair in June had a significant boost in attendance this year. The cooler weather in June rather than July allowed more people out to enjoy the fair. Overall this Spring and summer has been cooler overall. Its really hard to predict when we will have out hot spells. The overall consensus is that the fair will be better off in the future at an earlier time.

The Alameda county fair is on right now. Its a good one. Get out and see a fair this summer!

: ) Pat