San Diego County Fair staff members celebrate the final attendance number of "A Fair to Remember" in Del Mar, Calif.
After a 25-day fair that welcomed over 1.5 million people, Tim Fennell, CEO of the San Diego County Fair, is just happy to be “above ground and breathing.” With the theme “A Fair to Remember,” the 2015 San Diego County Fair reached a revenue record of about $38 million, up $2 million over last year’s total revenue, and attracted the second highest number of attendees in the fair’s history with 1,503,538, a 3.2-percent increase over 2014 and just 15,000 people behind the all-time attendance record.
“We had a few rainy days and a couple cancellations that affected it a little bit, but overall we’re very happy,” said Fennell.
Doors opened on June 5 at 4 p.m., a later start than they usually have, and the Ferris Wheel completed its final rotation five minutes to 12 a.m. on July 5. This year’s fair was a day longer than last year’s, but was closed on Mondays and the first two Tuesdays. Adult admission was $15 a ticket, while children 6-12 and seniors 62 and older were $8. Children five and younger got in free.
For the first time, San Diego County Fair partnered with the City of San Diego and Balboa Park for the theme in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Panama-California Exhibition held there in 1915.
“We’re always looking ahead, and we’re always looking for things that will appeal to a wide demographic,” said Fair Rep Linda Zweig. “It just fell into our laps with it being the anniversary of the 1915 Panama Exhibition. That’s when Balboa Park opened up San Diego to the world. In fact, at one point early on, the San Diego Fair was held at Balboa Park prior to the fairgrounds being erected.”
A Ford Mustang was on display as part of the "It All Started at the Fair" exhibit. (VT photo)
In 1851, a fair was organized in London on a massive scale. It became the first World's Fair. Ever since, the World's Fair was the place that people went to learn about other cultures and try out amazing inventions for the first time. The theme exhibit featured photos, facts and actual items that debuted at World’s Fairs over the years and are now used in everyday life. Things like dishwashers, microwaves, peanut butter and the Ford Mustang all made appearances.
“People were very enthusiastic about it,” said Fennel of the theme. “We had a great exhibit, and we tied it into the 100th anniversary of the fair that was held in Balboa Park in 1915. We partnered with those folks, and it worked out very well.”
Zweig described it as a year of firsts. Beyond partnering with the city for the first time, the fair hosted its first-ever Asian Festival on June 14 as a celebration of Asian and Pacific Islander cultures, music and food. On June 27 the fair hosted the first Distilled Festival that included VIP tickets that allowed admission to the festival half an hour early, access to a special lounge area, unlimited samples and admission to the fair. Local mixologists competed in a drink contest that used the VIP attendants as judges. In addition to these new festivals, the Toast of the Coast Wine Festival, San Diego International Beer Festival and others also returned.
“One of the things we pride ourselves on is having a little something for everybody,” said Fennell. “If you think about it, we have nine stages of entertainment, 103 food stands, over 400 commercial booths, a tremendous amount of award-winning exhibits, livestock, monster trucks, horse shows, wrestling, all kinds of horse racing and there’s a lot going on. It’s a great fair, very safe and secure, very few incidents.”
Concessions offerings included a mix of old classics with new (fried) delicacies. (VT photo)
One of those incidents this year came when a thunderstorm hit during fair hours. The accompanying lightning caused fair management to close down the midway and nine entertainment stages for an hour.
“We do a lot of training with evacuations just in case of emergencies, whether it’s fires or earthquakes or floods,” said Fennell. "The thunderstorms were kind of new to us. This is my 23rd fair and we’ve never had to shut down a midway before because of bad weather. So there was a lot of lightning that came through, but it came and passed.”
Light rain struck the fair a few other days, dampening attendance for those days slightly. Still, the concession gross was up 9.3 percent and the independent midway saw a 9.6-percent increase.
“We had decent weather for almost every day of the fair, but we had about two or three days where we had misty rain for a large part of the day, so we figured that hurt us a little bit,” said Fennell. “But I don’t want to complain too much. If you have rain in the Midwest or Northwest, people are used to it, but in San Diego it rains just a little bit and they’re afraid to go outside. I don’t think they know what it is!”
Rain is a welcome sight in California these days where “drought” is a buzzword and a very real affliction. But at the San Diego State Fair, Zweig said they’ve programmed water conservation into their operations every year.
“We are ahead of the curve and always have been,” said Zweig. “This drought is not a first for California, and we’ve always used drought-resistant plant life. We save water every year. We’re very conservative when it comes to water consumption and we have very strict policies all year long, not just during the fair.”
Chicken Charlie stayed as creative as ever with his fried concoctions, bringing the deep-fried Slimfast bar and deep-fried peanut butter pickle to the San Diego County Fair for the first time. Other new foods included a smattering of Cajun and wasabi dishes, a Grilled Cheese Frito Crunch Sandwich and a Chocolate-Dipped Waffle Bowl Strawberry Sundae for the sweet tooth out there.
Expanding on their Latin-themed attractions and exhibits, the Fiesta Village featured dancing, crafts, authentic Mexican food and artisans and was located in Family Funville, through a mural-covered tunnel.
“I want to thank the people of San Diego and thank the wonderful team I’m privileged to work with here at the fairgrounds for another amazing year,” said Fennell. “They’re the greatest and the best people in the industry. A lot of team participation, a lot of hard work, a lot of sleepy people but a great event full of cheer and fun.”
The fair’s 2016 dates have yet to be announced.
Interviewed for this story: Tim Fennell, (858) 792-4490; Linda Zweig, (858) 792-4262