California's Golden Fairs

Huell travels to Plymouth to visit the Amador County Fair. This fair has all the great food, rides and entertainment you’d expect, but what really sets it apart is their incredible living history areas. There is a wheelwright shop, steam powered sawmill, and even a Miwok village where you can visit with members of the tribe and learn about their beliefs and traditions. Another fun event is the daily tractor parade filled with antique farm equipment chugging down the main street.

Huell heads to the “greenest” fair in California. The Marin County Fair has made a huge effort to make a very small footprint on the environment. The carousel and the main stage are both powered by solar. Another stage is powered by a 99% vegetable oil biodiesel generator and the lighting at the entrance to the fair is powered by a wind turbine. There is even an all-electric, solar-powered trackless train to take guests on excursion rides. Even the animal’s straw and manure from the Barnyard is collected and trucked to an organic farm in West Marin after the fair.

Huell visits a fair steeped in history. In 1880, a group of San Diegans organized an agricultural fair to bring county farmers together to share ideas, see who had the best citrus fruit, who baked the best pie, and who had the fastest horse. In 1936 it moved to it’s current location at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. With the support of Bing Crosby and his Hollywood pals, the racetrack became and continues to be a focal point of this beautiful fairground. In 1946 actor Tom Hernandez was hired to portray the character of “Don Diego” who would become the symbol for the fair over the next 37 years as he welcomed fairgoers with his hat in hand and signature "Bienvenidos, Amigos."

Huell travels to the Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee. There is a reason this area is referred to as “Frogtown”. In 1865, Samuel l. Clemens (Mark Twain) penned “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, a tall tale of the life and happenings of the gold rush town. When the town was looking for a theme for the fair in 1928, they remembered the story and the first Jumping Frog Jubilee was held on main street, down town Angels Camp. The event has grown into an internationally known and loved event and is the highlight of the fair. Huell gets a behind the scenes tour and meets many of the frog “wranglers”.

Huell travels to Grass Valley to visit the Nevada County Fair, which is consistently referred to as "California's Most Beautiful Fairgrounds." This fair is all about the food! Treat Street is dedicated to various non-profit organizations that cook up some of the most delicious food imaginable and all the money raised goes back to the local non-profits. It’s a culinary smorgasbord! This fair is also known for and its strong community roots and very active 4H program.

Huell travels WAY up to the northern part of our state to visit a true “country” fair. The Trinity County Fair and the Hayfork Mule Show take place side by side in the small town of Hayfork. There’s lots to see and do, including the wonderful Quilt Show and the Homestead Exhibit, where living history volunteers demonstrate how things were done during the Gold Rush. Huell even eats some fried green tomatoes and stops by the saloon for an old-fashioned root beer float and of course, we get to see some amazing mules and donkeys compete in some surprising events.

Huell heads to Indio, where for over 60 years, the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival has celebrated the date and entertained millions with everything you could want from a fair. From the wonderful food to the camel and ostrich races and crowning of the Queen Scheherazade and her court, it’s a wonderful way to spend the day.

Huell travels to Placerville to attend the El Dorado County Fair which is filled with all the wonderful food, rides, games and happy fairgoers that you would expect, but the big "event" is the John Studebaker Wheelbarrow Race where hardy contestants drag wheelbarrows through a chaotic obstacle course filled with water and mud. There is a rich history to this madness, as the Studebaker car company got its start in Placerville where John Studebaker made wheel barrows for the early gold miners before moving onto wagons and eventually cars.

Huell visits the Alameda County Fair which originated in 1859 in downtown Oakland as a Floral Fair. The first modern-day Fair in Pleasanton began in 1912, and has been held annually (with the exception of the war years) ever since. The Fair's racetrackis the oldest one-mile horse racing track in America, dating back to 1858 and is still a highlight of this award-winning fair.

Huell visits the Monterey County Fair and learns why this area is known as the "Salad bowl of the world," but this fair is not all about agriculture. There is plenty of good food, rides and even some wool spinners to entertain you.

Huell visits the Big Fresno Fair and it really is a "big" fair, with over 165 acres of and 127 years in the making. Huell learns that the fairgrounds were once used as a Japanese internment camp and meets the great grand daughter of Pop Laval who shothundreds of photos of the early fairs.