How hot is July in Sacramento? Too hot for the California State Fair to survive | Opinion
Cliimate change is making it hard to enjoy the California State Fair. So Cal Expo is wisely looking to move the fair to a cooler time of the year. Surrendering to our hotter summers and finding another time that meets the fair’s many missions is the right thing to do.
In a recent meeting with the Sacramento Bee editorial board, Cal Expo leadership detailed the next steps and the complexities of finding another time than 19 days in July. Plan on at least a few more summer fairs, because changing the dates could take at least three years. The sooner Cal Expo can make the change, the better. The very survival of the fair is likely at stake.
Nearly 600,000 people attended this year’s fair. That is down 9 percent from 2022 and 43 percent from the peak attendance in 2001.
Opinion
It is almost as if Mother Nature saves the hottest stretch of the year for the fair. This July 13, “the day before the fair was 84 degrees,” said Cal Expo Chief Executive Officer Tom Martinez. “The day of the fair, it jumped to 105.”
The 17-day run of the fair averaged 101 degrees. The high was 108. The temperature was in the double digits only eight days.
People stayed away. Admissions revenue was down from $4.6 million in 2022 to $3.6 million. The fair’s share of food and beverage concessions plummeted from $2.1 million to $1.4 million.
“The heat was so hot that people at certain times could not get on rides because it was just hot,” Martinez said. “We hadn’t had that happen before like that..” It was too hot for the horses as well, with only 48 races this year compared to 69 in 2023.
Cal-Expo is a wing of the California Department of Food and Agriculture with its own Board of Directors and is usually self-funded, with some noted exceptions of legislative assistance such as during Covid. The fair was budgeted to raise nearly two-thirds of Cal Expo’s revenues this year, other events throughout the calendar providing less than a quarter of funds. Cal Expo has little choice but to hold a fair at the most inviting time of the year.
Cal Expo in 2010 moved the fair from its traditional end-of-August run to the middle of July because school districts throughout the state were beginning their sessions earlier and earlier. Students have to remain a big consideration given how the fair showcases livestock competitions with high school students who first won their 4-H competitions at their local county fair. Moving the dates of the state fair would create a potential domino effect for county fairs. And any new date would require availability of the carnival concessioners and their schedules.
Expect something more than a minor schedule change whenever a decision is finally made. “It’s going to continue to get warmer, not just in July, but other times of the year,” said Cal Expo Board Director Jess Durfree of San Diego, a former high school agriculture teacher. “We’re going to carefully study it before making any changes.”
One of Sacramento’s summer traditions feels destined to come to an end, while another one is beginning. But there isn’t a month in the calendar when weather will not be a factor. Sacramento’s wettest day ever, for example, came in an October. When a carnival ride gets too hot to the human touch because of the scorching sun, however, it’s time for some climate change adaptation. “You just can’t compete with what’s going to happen from above,” Durfree said. He’s right. So is Cal Expo for looking to move the fair to a cooler time on the calendar. This is climate change adaptation, pure and simple.
