SponsoredToday is the first day of the 2017 Sacramento County Fair!
Running Thursday, May 25 through Monday, May 29, 2017, at the CalExpo Fairgrounds, the Sacramento County Fair offers families a plethora of fun activities, delicious and unique foods, entertaining performances and shows, and of course, midway rides.
Fair admission is only $6.00 per person and kids 12 and under are free every day!
In it’s 81st consecutive year, the Sacramento County Fair will welcome 100,000 visitors for entertainment, food, shopping, and fun, as well as 10,000 school children for free educational tours.
- Outdoors, you’ll find all of the typical fair amenities you know and love like carnival rides, shows, duck races, kids pedal tractor pulls, face painting, pony rides, and incredible food.
- Enjoy free concerts, included with fair admission!
- Inside the buildings you’ll find local arts, crafts, demonstrations, wild science, and a private Mommy Room for breastfeeding moms, as well as The Shoppers Expo with 10,000 square feet of vendor space.
- For an additional price (separate ticket), you can also attend premium fair events like bull riding and Monster Trucks!
Media Night Sneak Peek
Last night was the Sacramento County Fair Media Night, where members of the media and local bloggers were invited for an early sneak peek of the fair, and Inspired Imperfection was invited!
We all met at the fair entrance, flanked by giant boxes of popcorn, and boarded the Western Express Railroad train for a tour of the fair — while waiting for the tour to start, I also had a chance to meet a couple other local Sacramento bloggers like Janel Berchielli and Anya of Leave The House And Go, as well as Jessica Reddig, Advertising Manager at Edible Sacramento — we’ve been loving the newly rebooted magazine!
Sac County Fair Food
Our first stop was the community stage, where we did some awesome fair food sampling! We were provided all sorts of fair foods that smelled amazing and we were invited to rank them and vote for best new food item, best item on a stick, best savory item, and best dessert item.
If you’re not into the midway rides, and you’re all about the fair food, you definitely aren’t going to be disappointed — OMG, the food!
Some of the scrumptious fair foods we tried include:
- Barbecue Bologna Sandwich
- Cowboy Pastrami Sandwich (Best New Fair Food Winner, from Wellmon Concessions)
- Tofu Corndog (Best Item On A Stick Winner, from Much-a-Bunch)
- Squeeze Inn Cheeseburgers
- Pad Thai Noodle Bowls
- Hawaiian Hot Dogs
- Tosti Elote (Best Savory Food Winner, from Noel’s Food)
- Fried Pepper Jack Mac And Cheese Balls
- Chocolate Covered Marshmallows
- Smores Funnel Cake
- Chocolate Covered Frozen Cheesecake (Best Dessert Winner, from Ice Cream Company)
- Lemon Fudge
- Deep Fried Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies
Sac County Fair Pig Races
When everyone was sufficient stuffed, we headed over to the pig arena to watch a mini show by the All Alaska Racing Pigs! I love Pig Races — we always watch them at Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm — so I nabbed a spot right up front to watch the little pigs bolt out of the starting gate with their stubby pig legs working hard to race around the track! So funny!
Sac County Fair Petting Zoo
Our next stop was at the Great American Petting Zoo with cows, goats, and donkeys. While the animals were in their pins for our visit, during the fair, kids will be able to get up close and personal with the animals, because the pins will be removed!
There is also a full Livestock Pavillon, and Junior Livestock Auction. Most animals leave the Fair early on Monday morning though, so if your family is anything like ours, and you can’t go to their fair without checking out the animals, be sure you visit Thursday through Sunday.
Captain Jack Spareribs
Our Media Night adventure then gave us a sneak peek of one of the popular Sacramento County Fair shows — The Captain Jack Spareribs Show! This nutty pirate delights the audience with juggling, plate spinning, little bit of magic, a ventriloquist act with Maynard the Talking Monkey, all sprinkled with terrible pirate jokes.
The Circus Is In Town
Behind the Captain Spareribs pirate ship, is a giant pink circus tent, and inside the Ramos Bros Circus delights fairgoers with daredevil tricks, clowns, and talented performers. The Circus performs three times every day of the fair, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to catch the act — and you won’t want to miss the motorcycle daredevils riding inside a giant spherical cage!
A Two Story Pizza Truck
Our final stop of the night was at Milo’s Pizza Truck, the first two story food truck in the United States, designed by Milo himself! We were treated to a live pizza tossing demonstration and then a few of us got to go upstairs and check out the inside of the food trucks second story — the dough kitchen.
You may have to wait a bit longer for Milo’s Pizza, but it’s worth it! The pizza dough is constantly made fresh onsite upstairs, while the pizzas are cooked and made to serve downstairs. Pretty cool!
The Sacramento County Fair Midway
While we didn’t make it to the midway on our Media Night Sneak Peek Tour, that’s okay with me. Every since having kids, I haven’t been able to stomach fast rides… The train is more my speed!
The County Fair Midway of Fun has 30 thrilling carnival rides:
- 20 exciting rides, including the all new runaway stagecoach.
- 10 fun rides in the Kids’ Carnival, especially for children ages 3-7.
Know Before You Go
- The Sacramento County Fair is held May 25-29, 2017 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 are 10:00 am to 10:00 pm Thursday through Sunday and 10:00 am to 7:00 pm on Monday.
- Parking is $10.000.
- Fair admission is only $6.00 per person and kids 12 and under are free every day.
- An unlimited ride wristband is $30.00 — Discount wristband coupons are available at most Walgreen’s locations.
- The Sacramento County Fair is a smoke-free environment (Hooray!).
- There are 30 midway rides to choose from, including the all new runaway stagecoach, making its debut at the Sacramento County Fair.
- There are more than 40 FREE events, performances, and activities every day of the fair.
