Photo: Amy King, KFI-AM 640
POMONA (CNS) - This year's Los Angeles County Fair saw an increase in attendance with an estimated 787,843 guests, up 8% percent from 2023, despite "perhaps the chilliest weather ever," fair officials said Tuesday.
The 95th Los Angeles County Fair ended its 16-day run Monday at Fairplex in Pomona. The annual event had long been held in September, but moved its dates to May in 2022 to avoid the high temperatures of late summer.
Organizers said the average temperature for this year's 16-day fair was 73 degrees, down from 86.4 degrees in September 2019. The fair was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Guests are now acclimated to us being a May fair and, despite the cool weather we had this year, they are coming early and staying late. The Fair continues to be a tradition for so many, and an exciting new outlet of fun for those who've never been here before," Fairplex President and CEO Walter Marquez said in a statement.
"We trended toward higher attendance almost each day of the Fair," said John Landherr, chairman of the Los Angeles County Fair Association Board of Directors. "I think that is due to the fact that we are bringing in new programming targeted to all ages. At its heart, the Fair is a family-friendly event with a touch of the new."
Officials also released their annual tally of the food eaten at this year's fair. Among the highlights:
-- Chicken Charlie reported 15 pallets of French fries, 5,000 ears of corn, 2,000 chicken kebabs, 10,000 drumsticks and 3,000 chicken sandwiches.
-- Midway Gourmet Dominic Palmieri used over 1 mile of sliced bacon for bacon-wrapped pork belly on a stick, 2 miles of sausage on a stick used for Big Daddy Corn Dogs and sausage sandwiches, 3 tons of sugar to make cotton candy and lemonade, 1,000 pounds of grated parmesan cheese for roasted corn, 700 pounds of chopped garlic for garlic fries, and 200 gallons of BBQ sauce and hot sauce to sauce up turkey legs.
-- Tasti Chips celebrated its 50th anniversary by selling 25,000 pounds of potatoes for homemade chips.
-- The Fair's wine education program served more than 20,000 individual 1-oz. tastings of wine, featuring gold medal winners from the Los Angeles International Wine Competition.
Guests donated nearly 95,000 cans of non-perishable food on three Food Drive Thursdays, one-quarter more than 2023, officials said. Donations will go to Inland Valley Hope Partners, LA Regional Food Bank, God's Pantry and the Pomona Unified School District's Community Schools Initiative's food pantry.
Cal Poly Pomona's Huntley College of Agriculture provided more than 200 animals for the petting zoo and presented educational programming in the dairy, livestock and show barns. Officials said two cows, 19 sheep, 24 goats and nine pigs were born during the Fair.
This year's overall fair theme was "Stars, Stripes & Fun," celebrating the county's diverse communities.
The fair provided more than 70 rides, 29 games and 20 food concessions this year in a carnival conducted by Ray Cammack Shows, whose Read to Ride program for school-aged children afforded parents the opportunity to scan a QR code and have their children write book reports in exchange for a carnival ride.
This year's concert performances included Los Tucanes de Tijuana, War, TLC, Ramon Ayala, Nelly and T.I., Dustin Lynch and The Outlaws.
The fair evolved from a commercial-industrial show first held along the Southern Pacific railroad siding in downtown Pomona in 1921. It proved so successful that the businessmen who produced it held the first Los Angeles County Fair in October 1922.
The 2025 Fair will return next May.