Coronavirus canceled dozens of California county fairs. Here are the ones still planned

With large events across the state and the U.S. still being shut down as of mid-June due to the coronavirus pandemic, more than 50 annual county and local fairs have been canceled for 2020 across California.

A bi-county festivity, the Yuba-Sutter Fair, was the latest casualty, officially canceled on Thursday, county and fairgrounds officials announced. The event had been set for August.

The California State Fair in Sacramento and the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles are also off until 2021. The State Fair hadn’t been canceled since World War II.

Including the state and mid-state fairs, the California Department of Food and Agriculture lists 76 yearly festivals organized by District Agricultural Associations and county governments.

Fewer than 20 of those 76 will be held this year.

Districts, counties and two bi-county regions have had a total of 57 fairs canceled so far in total, including the main annual fairs for 46 of California’s 58 counties. (San Francisco, which is both a county and city, does not hold an annual county fair, but the 2020 Grand National Rodeo at the Cow Place in Daly City has been canceled.)

It’s been a particularly painful decision in some communities.

The Tehama District Fair, for one, was supposed to be marking its 100th annual festival this spring. Instead, the streak ends at 99 years.

Colusa County had been primed to proceed with its county fair this weekend, but had the event scratched with less than a week’s notice.

“We are extremely disheartened to notify you that ... the California Department of Food and Agriculture notified the Board of Directors of the Colusa County Fair that they will not allow the event they previously approved to move forward,” the board wrote in a news release last Saturday. “...Unfortunately, the State of California has a different opinion about the importance of agriculture.”

The Colusa County Fair, which had been planned to run Thursday through this coming Sunday, pivoted to a “virtual junior livestock auction,” running noon Friday to noon Saturday.

Two counties — Riverside and Imperial — had the luck of the calendar on their side, already having held their fairs in February and early March, before Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order and ban on large gatherings on March 19 in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Cloverdale Citrus Festival in Sonoma County was also held pre-pandemic.

That leaves 16 district and county events still currently scheduled for this year, including the tri-county Alpine-Inyo-Mono fair; the county fairs for Fresno, Kern, Lassen, Mendocino, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Trinity and Tulare; and eight other local agricultural festivals.

Here are the fairs still scheduled to proceed this summer or fall, according to county and fairground websites as of Friday.

Antelope Valley Fair

The Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival remains set for Aug. 21-30 in Los Angeles County.

Fresno County Fair

The Fresno County fair, whose website boasts an average of 600,000 attendees a year, remains on the calendar for Oct. 8-12 and Oct. 14-18.

Big Fresno Fair launched a limited event that let guests buy fair food on a drive-thru basis throughout May. The “Fair Food Feature” ended Thursday.

Held annually in October, Fresno’s fair falls at the end of California’s county fair schedule each year.

Desert Empire Fair

The annual Desert Empire Fair in eastern Kern County is planned for Oct. 23-25 in Ridgecrest. More information will be available soon, according to the event’s website.

Eastern Sierra Tri-County (Alpine-Inyo-Mono) Fair

The Eastern Sierra Tri-County Fair remains set for Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-6 at the fairgrounds in Bishop.

The fairgrounds remain closed through mid-June, and a message on its website notes that the financial impact of losing the entire 2020 event season has created a “catastrophic” loss of revenue, suggesting the fair and other future events could still be canceled in the absence of emergency funding.

The counties will hold an online junior livestock auction June 23-26.

Gold Country Fair in Auburn

The Placer County Fair in Roseville has been canceled.

But the Gold Country Fair, held in Auburn, still intends to press forward Sept. 10-13.

Inter-Mountain Fair

This year’s Inter-Mountain Fair in Shasta County has been set for Sept. 3-7 in Redding.

The event’s horse show has been canceled.

Kern County Fair

The Kern County Fair remains set for Sept. 23 to Oct. 4 in Bakersfield. Further details about this year’s event are limited on the fairgrounds website.

Aside from Fresno, Kern County’s fair is the latest on the calendar statewide, giving organizers some extra time to plan.

Lassen County Fair

The Lassen County Fair, the earliest of California’s local fairs still set to continue this year, will run July 15-19 in Susanville — but with no carnival rides.

That condition was handed down by the county board of supervisors. The fair’s horse show remains on the schedule.

Lodi Grape Festival

The annual Lodi Grape Festival remains scheduled for Sept. 17-20 at the festival’s event center.

Madera District Fair

Though the Chowchilla-Madera County Fair has been canceled, the Madera District Fair currently plans to proceed Sept. 10-13 but with “significant modifications due to social distancing guidelines.”

The district fair’s board of directors announced the cancellation of all livestock shows and auctions at the event.

Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show

Mendocino’s fair is scheduled to run one weekend, Sept. 18-20, at the fairgrounds in Boonville.

As of Friday, the festival still plans to include a rodeo, classic car show, sheep dog trials and, of course, apple tasting.

Monterey County Fair

The Monterey County Fair “Fiesta,” this year celebrating 250 years since the city of Monterey was founded in 1770, remains on the schedule for Sept. 3-7.

The fairgrounds in the city of Monterey, shuttered since March, will reopen July 6.

Santa Cruz County Fair

The Santa Cruz County Fair is still planned for Sept. 16-20 at the fairgrounds east of Watsonville.

The fair and fairgrounds website’s homepage is currently topped with a plea to state officials and U.S. Congress to provide the California Fairs network with emergency funding.

Trinity County Fair

The 99th annual Trinity County Fair runs July 31 to Aug. 2, according to its website.

The fair’s website says it will continue to keep the community informed in the event of a cancellation “in this uncertain environment,” and will follow directions from the state and federal government. The county fair’s upcoming monthly board meeting is next Thursday.

Tulare County Fair

The Tulare County Fair as of now is scheduled to proceed Sept. 16-20 in Tulare, but no further information about the event is provided on the website. A message on the site reads, “2020 Fair Info Coming Soon.”

The county fair’s next board meeting is Tuesday.

Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair

The Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair, complete with a destruction derby, is set for Sept. 10-13 in Tulelake.

The fairgrounds has canceled interim events, including the Stateline Spectacular Jackpot show that had been scheduled for June 20, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Other event cancellations

In addition to the nearly four dozen county fairs that have been axed across California, the following events listed by the state Department of Food and Agriculture are also off in 2020, according to their websites:

▪ Butte County’s Silver Dollar Fair

▪Humboldt County’s Redwood Acres Fair

▪Los Angeles County Schools’ Agricultural Fair

▪Mendocino County’s Redwood Empire Fair (both Spring and August)

▪Merced County’s Spring Fair

▪The Salinas Valley Fair in Monterey County

▪The Napa Valley Exposition

▪The Colorado River Fair in Riverside County

▪The National Orange Show in San Bernardino County

▪The Fair and Expo at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara County

▪The Sonoma-Marin Fair.

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