California Fairs Dates

There are 58 counties in California and 78 fairs operated under the guidelines of the Department of Food and Agriculture - Division of Fairs and Expositions. This agency also manages the permitting of horse racing operations (see horse racing and wagering fairs.)

Among the California State fairs, there are some operated by the State of California, more operated by California counties, and several citrus fairs.

This official agency for oversight of fairs in California has a list of 78 fairs operating annually, with some counties hosting several fairs and larger counties such as Los Angeles having three fairs in three diverse regions.

• Alameda County Fair
• Amador County Fair
• Butte County Silver Dollar Fair 
• Butte County Fair 
• Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee
• Caruthers District Fair
• Colusa County Fair
• Contra Costa County Fair
• Del Norte County Fair 
• El Dorado County Fair 
• Fresno County Big Fresno Fair 
• Glenn County Fair 
• Humboldt County Fair 
• Humboldt County Redwood Acres Fair 
• Imperial County Mid-Winter Fair & Fiesta 
• Inyo County Eastern Sierra Tri-County Fair 
• Kern County Fair 
• Kern County Desert Empire Fair
• Kings County Fair 
• Lake County Fair
• Lassen County Fair
• Los Angeles County Fair 
• Los Angeles County Antelope Valley Fair 
• Chowchilla-Madera County Fair 
• Madera District Fair 
• Marin County Fair & Exposition 
• Mariposa County Fair 
• Mendocino County Fair
• Mendocino County Redwood Empire Fair
• Merced County Fair
• Merced County Spring Fair 
• Modoc County District Fair 
• Monterey County Fair 
• Monterey County Salinas Valley Fair 
• Napa County Fair 
• Napa County Town and Country Fair 
• Nevada County Fair
• Orange County Fair
• Placer County Gold Country Fair
• Placer County Fair 
• Plumas-Sierra County Fair 
• Riverside County Fair 
• Riverside County Colorado River Fair 
• Riverside County Southern California Fair 
• Sacramento County Sacramento County Fair
• San Benito County Saddle Horse Show
• San Benito County Fair
• San Bernardino County Fair
• San Bernardino County National Orange Show 
• San Bernardino County Desert Empire Fair
• San Diego County Fair
• San Joaquin County Fair 
• San Joaquin County Lodi Grape Festival 
• San Luis Obispo County California Mid-State Fair
• San Mateo County Exposition & Fair 
• Santa Barbara County Fair and Exposition 
• Santa Barbara County Santa Maria Fair Park
• Santa Clara County Fair 
• Santa Cruz County Fair
• Shasta County District Fair 
• Shasta County Inter-Mountain Fair 
• Siskiyou County Golden Fair
• Siskiyou County Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair 
• Solano County Dixon May Fair
• Solano County Fair
• Sonoma County Fair & Exposition 
• Sonoma County Cloverdale Citrus Fair 
• Sonoma-Marin Fair 
• Stanislaus County Fair 
• Yuba-Sutter Fair
• Tehama County District Fair 
• Trinity County Fair 
• Tulare County Fair
• Tuolumne County Mother Lode Fair 
• Ventura County Fair
• Yolo County Fair

Fairs celebrate community heritage, they allow all ages to compete in a variety of events, hold family reunions, display and view artwork, learn about other cultures, premier new inventions and showcase the best of California. Many fairs offer free tours to schools, free youth admission on certain days, and valuable educational experiences throughout the year.

County fairs typically include farm animals in petting zoos, and competitions in raising livestock and animals, as well as featured animal exhibitions. The state fairs also follow a format of showcasing each region's agricultural assets, as well as providing contests ranging from cooking and recipes to crafting and art.

County fairs generally are held once in a year and the average length of a fair is around 3 - 5 days, though the larger fairs actually are held for over a month.

The largest and most attended fair is the Los Angeles County Fair held at Fairplex in Pomona. Top attendance fairs include San Diego Fair at Del Mar, Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, and California State Fair in Sacramento. San Diego Fair gets close to 1.4 million attendance..

The fair season launches in February with the Indio Date Festival and Riverside County Fair. The event is unique and features a desert theme. The fair season runs through October, with a few fairs in November. The state and county fairs don't hold events in December, in general.

However, there are many fairs that do have December events such as the Great Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace in the San Francisco Bay Area.