Everything You Need To Know About The 2018 Sacramento County Fair

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WooHoo! Today is the first day of the 2018 Sacramento County Fair!

Running Thursday, May 24 through Memorial Day, Monday, May 28, 2018, at the CalExpo Fairgrounds, the Sacramento County Fair is celebrating its 82nd year with the theme Let’s Eat, Have Fun, And Celebrate The Red, White, And Blue.

The Sacramento County Fair offers families a plethora of fun activities, delicious and unique foods, entertaining performances and shows, and of course, midway rides, and admission is only $6.00 per person and kids 12 and under are free every day!

Media Night Sneak Peek

Last night was the Sacramento County Fair Media Night Sneak Peek, where members of the media and local bloggers were invited for an early sneak peek of the fair, and Inspired Imperfection was invited!

We participated in a fair food tasting contest to vote for the best new fair food, the best savory fair food, and the best sweet fair food. While we ate A LOT of amazing foods like edible cookie dough, Hawaii shrimp, deep fried cannoli, cookies & cream funnel cakes, veggie paninis, and deep fried grilled cheese, there were some clear winners:

• Best New Fair Food: The Grinders Pacific Pastrami Sandwich
• Best Savory Fair Food: The Hot Doggin’ Western Bacon Dog
• Best Sweet Fair Food: The Castle Mini Donuts

Last year, one of the coolest experiences was getting a tour of the two-story Milo’s Pizza Truck! It’s the first two story food truck in the United States and we got to not only see inside, but go upstairs. You’ll have A LOT of food to choose from at the fair, but you’re not going to want to miss Milo’s! The pizza dough is made fresh onsite upstairs and it’s delicious.

The 2018 Sacramento County Fair

This year the fair will welcome 110,000 visitors for entertainment, food, shopping, and fun, 10,000 school children will participate in free educational tours, and 5,000 locals will compete for awards in livestock and competitive exhibit programs.

As always, you’ll find an awesome Carnival Midway packed with rides for children and adults of all ages and free concerts that are included with your fair admission. Also included with admission are a variety of other fun events, entertainment, and shows like:

• The Ramos Brothers Circus, the Powerhouse dance group, and the juggling and acrobatic show Something Ridiculous.
• The Strolling Piano, the Puppets And Players show, and the Corny Crow ventriloquist act.
• Rescue dogs performing extreme sports in Canine Stars, the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs, the Great American Duck Races, Charlie the Veloci-Raptor, and of course, the Great American Petting Zoo!

And if that weren’t enough, there is a shopping expo with 100,000 square feet of vendor space, an interactive science and technology exhibit, livestock shows and competitions, and even camel rides! And, the Sacramento County Fair train is free all the time.

All of that is included with your fair admission, which is again only $6.00 and kids 12 and under are free. It’s a pretty awesome deal!

Grand Stand Events

It wouldn’t the the fair if there weren’t special Grand Stand Events. These special events require a separate admission ticket and include:

• The Toughest Monster Truck Tour where you can see iconic monster trucks go head-to-head as they battle through obstacle courses, jump over cars, and perform freestyle stunts.
• Bull Riding that pits 30 top Cowboys against 30 1,500 pound bucking bulls.
• A Concert: Gran Jaripeo y Baile FEATURING Ramon Ayala
• A Tractor Pull where drivers pull 15,000-60,000 pounds and compete to see who has the strongest machine.

The Midway Of Fun

The local, family owned and operated Midway of Fun at the Sacramento County Fair offers more than 30 thrilling carnival rides, including the Lolli Swings and the brand new, high-flying JUMBO elephant ride. Twenty rides are geared toward older kids and adults and the Kids’ Carnival, for children age 3-7, has 10 rides.

The Midway of Fun also offers a collection of tradition carnival games like Gold Fish, Neptune’s Fury, Water Race, Break A Bottle, Baseball Toss, Bust One You Win, Balloons, and NBA Jam Basketball.

Know Before You Go

• The Sacramento County Fair is held Thursday, May 24 through Monday, May 28, 2018 at the CalExpo Fairgrounds, 1600 Exposition Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95815. Enter at Gate D (Exposition Blvd and Challenge Way). The fair entrance is near the Cal Expo Rodeo Arena.
• Fair hours and building hours are 10:00 am to 10:00 pm Thursday through Sunday and 10:00 am to 7:00 pm on Monday.
• Carnival hours are 11:00 am to 10:00 pm Thursday through Sunday and 11:00 am to 7:00 pm on Monday.
• The livestock pavilion hours are 8:00 am to 8:00 pm Thursday through Sunday and 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Monday.
• Parking is $10.000.
• Fair admission tickets are only $6.00 per person and kids 12 and under are free every day. On Memorial Day, all members of the Military receive free admission!
• An unlimited ride wristband is $30.00 — Discount wristband coupons are available at most Walgreen’s locations.
• Are you a nursing mom? Check out the Mommy Lounge in Building C. It’s a private place for nursing moms enjoying the Fair.
• The Sacramento County Fair is a smoke-free environment (Hooray!).
• Come ready to shop! For 2018, there is over 100,000 square feet of vendor space!
• There are more than 30 awesome midway rides to choose from, including “JUMBO” the high-flying elephant ride making its debut at the 2018 Sacramento County Fair.
• There are more than 40 FREE events, performances, and activities every day of the fair.
• Five different musical groups perform on the main stage and the community stage throughout the fair, as well as juggling acrobats, a pirate, and even a dinosaur!
• Included with fair admission, you can also visit the Great American Petting Zoo to meet friendly animals up close, watch the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs run around the racetrack, check out Welcome To The Jungle featuring exotic animals, and the watch the Ramos Brothers Circus.