The 97th edition of the Los Angeles County Fair began its 17-day run Thursday at Fairplex in Pomona with the theme of “Play Your Way.”
The fair’s attractions include:
— A carnival with more than 70 rides;
— A trick dog show featuring rescue dogs billed as the “cutest dog show on Earth”;
— Races with pigs, lambs, ducks and goats;
— A petting farm;
— Daily parades by the Budweiser Clydesdales at noon;
— A low-rider car show;
— Multiple daily performances by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater;
This will be the final year for the fair’s Skate-R-Cade roller skating rink.
New food options available include:
— Crispy shawarma wrap, grilled, marinated chicken or beef with house-made garlic paste, pickles, pickled turnips, onion, parsley and a sumac blend, finished with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses and more garlic sauce, wrapped in a large pita, topped with light spicy oil and grilled until crispy;
— Fried mangonada, fresh mango sliced and dipped in house-made pancake batter, deep fried and topped with chamoy and Tajin, served with a slice of lime;
— Peanut butter and jelly cheeseburger; and
— All pork pizza, a slice of New York-style pizza topped with pepperoni, sausage and crispy chicharron, finished with a drizzle of Sriracha sauce.
The fair’s concert series begins Saturday with the funk/rock/soul band War. Other artists set to perform are Banda El Recodo and Banda Los Recoditos (Sunday), Brad Paisley (May 16), The Driver Era (May 17), Common Kings (May 23), Zapp (May 24) and comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham (May 30) and Ramon Ayala (May 30).
Tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.com. Concert tickets include admission to the fair.
Opening Day is the cheapest day to attend the fair with tickets $12 if purchased online.
Tickets for fairgoers ages 13-59 purchased in advance online are $20 Thursday through Sunday and May 15-17; $25 May 22-25 and May 29-31. Adult tickets purchased online for the other three Thursdays are $18
Tickets for children ages 6-12 and seniors 60 and older purchased in advance online are $15 throughout the entire run.
Tickets at the gate are $32 for ages 13-59 and $17 for children ages 6 to 12 and adults 60 and over. Parking is $22.50 in advance online and $26 at the gate.
Admission is $8 Saturday for tickets purchased by Los Angeles County residents at LACountyFair.com/LACountyDay with use of the promo code LACOUNTY if purchased by 11:59 p.m. Friday. The price is $10 in purchased on Saturday.
Admission will be free on the three Food Drive Thursdays — May 14, 21 and 28 — for each fairgoer who brings in five cans of food and enters by 4 p.m. All canned goods will be donated to food pantries.
Discounted tickets are available at Superior Grocers stores and participating Mattress Firm stores. A ticket package of four any single-day admission tickets, 20 ride tickets and a Passport to Savings coupon book, which includes a free Thursday return admission ticket, is available for $64.99 at participating Costco stores.
Payment for parking, admission and concert tickets are cashless.
Parking is $22.50 in advance online and $26 at the gate.
The fair will be in operation from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day of its run. The fair will be open Thursdays through Sundays through May 31 and Memorial Day, May 25.
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 fair has been held annually at Fairplex since 1922, except from 1942-47, when the facility was being used by the U.S. Army, including as a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian soldiers and a relocation camp for Japanese Americans, and in 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.