The official first day of summer this year is June 20, but for many San Diegans, the real summer kickoff will be June 12, when the 2024 San Diego County Fair opens for a 20-day run at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
This year’s fair is getting off to a slightly later start than usual, in part because many local school districts had classes through this week. But the good news is that this year’s fair run won’t close as usual on July 4. Instead it will run through Sunday, July 7.
To help navigate this year’s fair we’ve gathered everything you need to know on this year’s theme, new additions, ticket prices, transportation options, rides, entertainment, exhibits and — most important for many fair-goers — new things to eat at the food booths. Here’s an overview.
Theme
This year’s theme is “Let’s Go Retro,” celebrating the music, movies, TV shows, fashions, fads, foods, games and more from the 1950s to the 1990s. In the exhibit hall just inside the main gate, there will be a themed exhibition of historical items from the past, retro video games, music, dancing and more. Many of the free concerts presented this year on the fairgrounds’ Paddock stage will pay tribute to beloved music icons including Elton John, The Doors, Elvis Presley, The Police and The Bee Gees. There’s also the “Let’s Go Retro” Challenge, where longtime San Diegans are sharing their old photographs from the 1950s and beyond for fun and prizes. And finally, fair food vendors have been invited this year to create retro food and drink items, so look for tributes to SPAM, old-fashioned funnel cakes, pink lemonade and much more.
New foods at the fair
One of the biggest attractions for fair-goers each year is trying these new foods. Vendors work hard to outdo themselves each year, particularly San Diego’s Charlie Boghosian, who’s better known locally as “Chicken Charlie.” Virtually every year since 1996, Boghosian has been showing up at fairs statewide with crazy new deep-fried surprises that have, in the past, included Oreos, bacon-wrapped pickles, Kool-Aid, cookie dough and frog legs.
This year he’s introducing two retro deep-fried items inspired by the favorite snack of fairs long past — the funnel cake. His deep-fried funnel cake dog is a hot dog wrapped in funnel cake batter, fried and topped with powdered sugar. He will also debut the hot honey funnel cake chicken sandwich, where rounds of funnel cake drizzled with hot honey and powdered sugar serve as the sandwich’s bun.
Here are some of the other new food items to look for at this year’s fair.
Sean Rocha, owner of the Boba King food stand, will debut several snack items made with Spam, the canned lunch meat introduced by Hormel in 1937. There will be Spam on a stick, Spam fries, Spam sliders and a Spam lunch plate. Pat’s Pizza is introducing the Mexican street corn pizza with Oaxacan and Cotija cheeses and cilantro. Apollo’s Greek will be serving Vintage Velvet Sodas, which are “dirty” soft drinks served with mixers, like Dr. Pepper mixed with coconut cream and lime juice. And Cali Papusa, a new booth serving cooked-to-order Salvadoran griddle cakes, will be serving oversize Barbie-themed plastic jugs of pink lemonade.
Also new: The Dreamsicle pudding trifle at Farmer in the Del; chicken pot pie at In Your Face Pies; Le Crookie (a croissont-chocolate chip cookie mashup) from Mom’s Bakeshoppe; the Mondo Beef Birria Cheeseburger from Tasti Burgers; Nashville Hot Chicken Tots from Biggy’s; and the French Toast Stick Sunday from Old Tyme Ice Cream.
Because it’s impossible to visit and try every new food item at the fair each year, the Fair-Tastic Foods Competition was introduced last year. A panel of judges led by San Diego Magazine publisher and Food Network judge Troy Johnson will eat their way through 37 new food items that have been submitted for tasting. The booths with winning food items will have signs posted celebrating their awards.
Racing pigs and diving dogs
Two of the most popular attractions at the fair each year are the pig races and Extreme Dogs exhibition. Because of their popularity, the free shows are presented multiple times a day. But arrive early to get the best viewing spots.
The Swifty Swine Racing Pigs will be competing in daily contests surrounded by bleachers set up near the Del Mar Arena. Five-week-old piglets take a speedy lap around a mini racetrack for the reward of an Oreo cookie at the finish line. The pigs will race up to six times a day. Check in at the booth for the schedule or find it here: sdfair.com/events/2024/swifty-swine-racing-pigs.
Extreme Dogs: This high-flying show features trained dogs performing feats of agility, high-jumping, dock diving and more in the Family Funville area. Shows are at 1, 3 and 6 p.m. daily.
Other animal encounters
That ’70s Bird Show: Trained parrots will talk, sing, do tricks and acrobatics in three daily shows in three locations: 12:30 p.m. in Family Funville; 3 p.m. on the Garden Show Stage; and 5 p.m. in the Themed Exhibit Hall.
Junior Livestock show and auction: Local students in 4-H, FFA and Grange programs will be exhibiting their pigs, sheep, cows, turkeys and more in the Chevrolet Livestock Barns June 24-29, and then selling the animals for market at the annual Junior Livestock Auction from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 29 in Del Mar Arena.
The Charity Fair Horse Show will be held June 12 through 15 in the Del Mar Arena. It will feature American Saddlebreds, Hackney and Roadster ponies, Morgans, Friesians and Andalusians, as well as contests in carriage and equitation.
Also: The fair will also have the Great American Petting Farm, goat-milking demonstrations, alpacas and Sky River Butterfly Farms.
Disco speakeasy
This year’s speakeasy, on the rooftop of the grandstand building, is titled Destination Unknown. Open from noon to close for ages 21 and older, the bar will offer disco music and spinning disco balls. This year’s signature cocktail is Walking on Sunshine, with Malibu rum, guava nectar, coconut La Croix drink, pineapple juice and grapefruit liqueur. A secret password will be required to enter the speakeasy. For directions and the password, watch for fairgrounds employees handing out Destination Unknown postcards near the front gate and near the Paddock area or ask for directions at the fair’s information booths.
Saturdays at the Sound
Our music critic George Varga is offering his picks for this year’s fair concert acts on the Grandstand, Paddock and other stages in a separate story linked below. But a new music-themed feature at the fair this year is Saturdays at the Sound, a series of four illuminated music experiences at 8 p.m. Saturday nights in the fairgrounds’ new concert venue, The Sound. The shows are $30, but the price include same-day fair admission. Seating is first come, first served. The Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular, a multimedia laser, video and projection show set to the music of the English band, is June 15; Illuminate, a light and movement dance show, is June 22; Lumia, a video game-inspired acrobatic, dance and specialty act show, is June 29; and The Stickmen Project, a masked DJ and percussion electronic music duo, is July 6.
Exhibits
While not as flashy as racing pigs and electronic light shows, the annual artisan exhibitions are a perennial favorite with fair-goers of all ages. Back again this year are exhibitions of fine art; photography; gems, minerals and jewelry; woodworking; homemade crafts and foods; the Paul Ecke Jr. garden and flower shows; and the student showcase.
Demonstrations & speakers
There are hundreds of opportunities to attend free lectures and demonstrations in the fair’s exhibit halls this year. They include demonstrations in wood-turning, rock-carving, jewelry-making, violin-making, chair-caning, model ship-building, painting, yarn-spinning and quilting. There are lectures on bee-keeping, stamp collecting, gardening, fostering pets and animal hygiene. And there are hands-on opportunities for make-and-take crafts, chalk art, children’s scavenger hunts, gardening and a ladybug release.
Contests
In the Garden Show area, free skill contests will be held each day, with prizes for the winners. The contests include scarecrow-building, corn-shucking, scavenger hunts and zucchini car races.
Powwow
This year’s fair will feature a Native American Powwow from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. June 30 in the Del Mar Arena. Live dancing, drumming and singing will be presented all day, along with arts and crafts vendors, drum circles, fry bread and Indian taco booths and educational presentations on Native culture, history and customs.
Rides and games
The fair’s Fun Zone will feature a full complement of rides and games for adults, including two Ferris wheels, the Zipper, an aerial swings ride, four dark rides, a water log ride and Raptor roller coaster. The fairgrounds’ inner racetrack area is once again set aside for the Kids Zone, with 28 children’s rides and many other attractions. On Wednesdays and Thursdays (excluding July 4), fair-goers can purchase one-day unlimited ride wristbands. The Pay-One-Price Ride Days are priced at $45 before June 11 and $49 on June 12 and afterward. Select San Diego 7-Eleven stores are offering $5 discount coupons for the unlimited ride deal with purchase of two 20-ounce Pepsi bottles. For details, visit sdfair.com/p/plan-your-visit/tickets-deals/unlimited-rides.
The 2024 San Diego County Fair
When: Opens Wednesday and runs through July 7. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Gates open at 11 a.m. daily and close at 10 p.m.
Where: Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar
Tickets (in-person and online sales): Tickets can be purchased online at sdfair.com. They can also be purchased (by credit card only) at the gate. Prices vary by day, with the lowest prices on off-peak days (Wednesdays and Thursdays, except July 4). Prices for adults range from $20 to $25 (or $16-$20 with advance purchase); tickets for seniors (62 and above) and youth (ages 6 to 12) are $17-$22 ($13-$17 in advance). Youths get in free on Fridays, and children ages 5 and under are always free. Buy tickets online at sdfair.com/p/tickets.
Parking (online and credit card sales only): General parking at the fairgrounds’ main lots on Jimmy Durante Boulevard is $20 (save $5 if you purchase online 24 hours in advance). Preferred parking near the main entrance is $50 (located near the O’Brien Gate). Del Mar Horsepark parking (with free shuttle service from 10 a.m. to one hour past fair closing) is $10. Offsite parking at Canyon Crest Academy at 5951 Village Center Loop, San Diego (with shuttle service) is free. Uber and Lyft drop-off zones can be found in the rideshare lot on Jimmy Durante Boulevard (look for the purple flags)
Public transit: North County Transit District is offering its Fair Tripper package again this year. It includes fair admission and a round-trip ride on the Coaster, Sprinter train and MTS Trolley and a connecting bus line to the fair. The Coaster train will drop fairgoers at the Solana Beach station, where a Breeze bus will carry riders to the fair’s West Gate. Fair Tripper tickets are $20 for adults and $17 for youth (6-18), seniors and the disabled on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and July 4; $16 for adults and $13 for youth (6-18), seniors and the disabled on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Purchase in advance at gonctd.com/fairtripper/.
Phone: (858) 755-1161
Online: sdfair.com