(SACRAMENTO, CA) The California State Fair created memories for the entire community from July 14 – 30. This is the one northern California event where everyone is welcome to come out and enjoy the best of what California has to offer. Governor Jerry Brown and the state’s first lady, Anne Gust Brown, visited on the Fair’s final night.
“The California State Fair is proud to be recognized as the largest showcase of the rich bounty and diversity of our Golden State,” said Rick Pickering, CEO and General Manager of the California State Fair. We celebrated agriculture, livestock, horse racing, unique foods, events, rides, and exhibits…some of which people have never seen before.
Food sales grossed an estimated $8.5 million, and there was an estimated $4.2 million in carnival ride sales grossing over $12.7 million in sales revenue; not including hotel stays and other revenue sources for the Sacramento region.
With it being the Fair’s 50th year at Cal Expo, there was a lot to celebrate. New this year was the dedication of “Best of CA: Celebrating Farm Workers’ Rich Contributions to Food and Agriculture.” We also saw the return of soccer, with the Sacramento Republic FC playing two games at Papa Murphy’s Park. The California Commercial Beer Competition is now the third largest in the country with 1,488 entries. Sponsored by the Tractor Supply Company, the Junior Livestock Sale of Champions raised $270,344 for youth this year, which was the highest amount in the past 10 years.
Despite being one of the hottest July’s in 10 years, with 8 days of triple-digit weather during the weekends, 636,628 attendees enjoyed the Fair. Here are some other Fair highlights that can only be found at the California State Fair.
FREE CONCERTS
All concerts are included in the price of admission to Fair, however reserved seats were available for purchase. Out of the 17 concerts,7 completely sold out for the Gold Circle Reserved Seats. The top three attended concerts were Melissa Etheridge, Brian McKnight, and Trace Adkins respectively.
HORSE RACING AT THE MILLER LITE RACETRACK GRANDSTAND
This year we hosted Live Thoroughbred Horse Racing every Thursday – Sunday at the Miller Lite Racetrack Grandstand. More than 32,500 racing fans came to the Miller Lite Racetrack Grandstand for horse racing and special events including the Best of CA Brewfest, Wienerschnitzel Wiener Dog Races, Steampunk at the Races featuring Ave Rose, and the California Cornhole Championships.
OTHER NOTABLE STATS
- 56 out of 58 counties participated in the California State Fair
- 1,488 beers entered into the Commercial Beer Competition
- 2,663 wines entered into the Commercial Wine Competition
- 19,931 competitive entries
- 6,412 total exhibits
- 33,380 rides on the Sky Ride
- 5,992 free rides from Butler Amusement in support of the CA State Fair’s Read to Ride program for local children who turned in 2,996 book reports
- 10,000 square feet of additional shade throughout the Fairgrounds
- 19,662 wine slushies were served in the Save Mart Wine Garden
- 37 corn dogs were eaten by the winner of the Milo’s Corn Dog Eating Contest – Molly Schuyler from Plumas Lake, CA. She defeated competitors that came from as far as Philadelphia to compete.
- 75,000 total corn dogs consumed
- 9,556 livestock animals were on display
- 10,000 Dole Whips served
- 356 test drives at the Electric Vehicle Ride and Drive brought to you by Charge Across Town
- 21,223 FREE Chevrolet shirts given out
- 18,100 Turkey legs sold
- 35,100 Funnel cakes sold
- 11,325 pieces of the fruit given out through the Save Mart Supermarkets Passport Program at the Kaiser Permanente CA State Fair Farm
- 1,963 #50thFairHunt SMUD bags were given out
- 59,016 people downloaded our official California State Fair app
- 200,588 Facebook fans – the most “liked” Fair in the western United States
- CA State Fair posted a total of 50 videos which generated 567,500 views
- 9,721 Twitter followers
- 10,700 Instagram followers – more than 20,361 photos were posted using the #castatefair
- Solano County received the most public votes in the California Counties Exhibit by taking People’s Choice, Most Educational, and Most Fun
- 2,601 jumps in the Jack in the Box Freestyle Motocross Show
- 9,000 Share-a-Coke created
- Central Valley Towing helped Fair guests with 7 jump starts, 10 unlock cars, 2 tire changes and assisted in shuttling 5,832 people to and from the parking lots to entrances
- 2,060 Dish fireworks were shot into the night sky
This was an extremely successful 50th Anniversary run of the California State Fair commemorating our anniversary with a souvenir poster, time capsule, origins of the State Fair exhibit and a widely popular #50thFairHunt game. We invite the whole community to join us next year July 13 – 29, 2018.
ABOUT CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR
Originally established in 1854, the California State Fair is dedicated as a place to celebrate California’s achievements, industries, agriculture, diversity of its people, traditions and trends that shape the Golden State’s future. We invite you to join us for the 165th California State Fair July 13 – 29, 2018.
