The Big Fresno Fair, founded in 1884, is an annual fair held at the Fresno County Fairgrounds. The Big Fresno Fair is managed by the 21st District Agricultural Association, an entity of the California Department of Food and Agriculture Division of Fairs & Expositions. It is the largest annual event in the San Joaquin Valley, attracting around 600,000 people each October during its twelve-day run featuring exhibits, a livestock show, live horse racing, musical entertainment, educational programs and more. The Fair provides a link between urban and rural California, serving as a tool to educate visitors on the region's rich agricultural industry. The mission of The Big Fresno Fair is to "Educate, Celebrate and Have Fun".
In addition to being the site of the annual Fair, the Fresno Fairgrounds serves as a year-round rental facility that spans held under a 50-year lease with the County of Fresno. The Fresno Fairgrounds hosts more than 250 annual events such as conventions, trade shows and banquets located in Fresno, California. More than 1.5 million people visit the Fresno Fairgrounds annually.
History
Origin
A group of local businessmen, growers and ranchers formed an organization called the "Fresno Fair Grounds Association" in February 1883. The original directors were Dr. Lewis Leach, M. I. Donahou, Frederick A. Woodworth, A. B. Butler and T. M. Hughes. The association sold stock to raise funds and with those funds, bought a tract of land from Thomas E. Hughes & Sons and began construction of a horse racetrack. Following official admission to the National Trotting Association, the first races occurred in May 1884 and the new track was assessed to be in "first-class order" by a writer from the Sacramento Bee. The first Fresno Fair opened in October 1884 and featured a five-day race horse meet, a few produce displays and several head of livestock.
The fairgrounds only consisted of a racetrack until 1888, when a grandstand and a pavilion were completed a few weeks before the fair opened. The fair was well attended and the races draw many bettors, however by 1895, the fair succumbed to the depression of the 1890s and the fairgrounds property was put up for sale under foreclosure.
County Ownership and Management
The fairgrounds property was bought by Fresno County in 1901 for $30,000 and a period of uncertainty and missed years of the fair followed. Management the fair was taken over by the Fresno County Agricultural Association which added stability but the organization still struggled to convince county supervisors to fund needed improvements to the fairgrounds and its facilities. A collective of local banks, churches, merchants associations and the chamber of commerce signed a petition asking for fairgrounds improvements and broke through the county's reluctance to spend. An agricultural exhibit building was completed in 1911, an industrial exhibit building was completed in 1912 and dynamic new secretary named Clyde Eberhart was hired. All this led to a decade of growth for the fair. A commerce building was completed in 1914 and the fair drew governor Hiram Johnson to attend as a guest of honor in 1916.
The 1914 Fair organized a unique kickoff event, a cross-city running race. The race starting line was in Roeding Park and it ended in a lap around the mile-long horse race track at the fairgrounds. Fifteen runners from around the state competed and Oliver Millard, of the San Francisco Olympic Club, won.
Historian Donald Marti credits the Big Fresno Fair for popularizing intentional train wrecks as a fair event spectacle across the US, an idea of Eberhart's. The first Fresno intentional train wreck was in 1919 and was attended by 35,000 people.
In 1919, both the Fresno District Fair organization and the California Raisin Association (the organizer of a popular annual spring festival) were disbanded as the result of a lawsuit and both groups were taken over by the Fresno Chamber of Commerce. In 1920, the Chamber made an agreement with Prince Speedway Construction Company, based in Los Angeles, to build an automobile track at the fairgrounds and to conduct two race per year there for a period of ten years in exchange for $50,000 and the majority of the earnings from the races.
The speedway was built out of 2x4 lumber placed on their sides and was regarded as one of the fastest tracks in the country. The first high level race it hosted was during the 1920 AAA Championship Car season. It continued to be a stop on the AAA racing circuit through the 1926 season. Multiple fires damaged the track but were repaired. The track succumbed to lawsuits and the pressure from newer speedways and was torn down in 1927.