Update: Stanislaus County Fair to have carnivals, food, shows – with COVID precautions
The board of the Stanislaus County Fair voted Monday evening to go on with a pandemic version of the annual July event.
The fair will take place over four weekends, rather than the usual 10-day run in mid-July. This will include all Fridays and Saturdays, and possibly some Sundays. It will have fewer carnival rides, concerts and other attractions than in the time before COVID-19.
FFA and 4-H members will show their livestock with fewer supporters on hand than usual. And some of the commercial exhibitors might not take part due to limited space.
But the fair will be back, after missing 2020 to the pandemic, hopefully with VFW burgers and other favorite foods served up in socially distanced style.
“It won’t be what it’s been in the past, but it will be fun,” CEO Matt Cranford said in a phone interview Tuesday.
The board voted unanimously to move forward with planning, with the understanding that the rules could get tighter or looser depending on the virus.
The Turlock fairgrounds is both an amusement park and entertainment venue under the rules, so planning is complicated, Cranford said.
The tentative plan:
Schedule: The fair had been set for every day from July 9 to 18. Instead, it will operate on the last four weekends in July, leaving out Independence Day weekend.
Carnival: The vendor will have only half the usual number of rides, with capacity limits on each.
Arena: Two concerts are planned, at least one with Latino music. The arena also will have a destruction derby and tractor pull. The smaller performances around the grounds won’t happen.
Food and drink: They could be served with safeguards, including beer and wine with the county health department’s permission. The fair also might offer the drive-thru food provided last year to fans on a few occasions.
Prices: The management has not decided whether to charge for admission to the grounds. The arena events and carnival would have their own ticketing.
The fair is usually the county’s most popular event, with well over 200,000 patrons. Most of it was canceled last year, but 4-H and FFA members could do online judging.
