Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Thousands of fair people in one place

The first hour at the San Diego County Fair

Bill and Michelle
Bill and Michelle

The hour before the opening of the San Diego County Fair, on the I-5 exiting southbound at Via de la Valle, traffic was light. But by the time the gates opened at 4:00 p.m. on June 5, a large crowd was awaiting entrance.

Video:

First hour at the fair

Dixie

Dixie

Linda Zweig, spokesperson for the fair, said the unusual start time of 4:00 p.m. — starting a half-day earlier than previous years — was done to give people a chance to not have to fight the traditional Saturday-morning opening-day traffic. Approximately 28,000 people took advantage of the early opening.

Margaret Austin of Escondido repeated her fair appearance. This is her 30th year of being the first person in line. This year she received a complimentary ticket into the fair.

Sponsored
Sponsored
No, Bob, there's no corn between your teeth.

During the first hour of the fair, Bill and Michelle ran to Bob’s Cob stand for their barbecued corn of the cob. Bob’s stand is the first food stand when one enters the fair. He definitely has the best corn, and they’re about 25 cents cheaper than other stands. Bob estimated he’d sell 50,000 cobs this year.

Across the midway, the most popular of food booths, Chicken Charlie’s, Juian of Paradise Hills was the first to place his order. He chose the deep-fried frog legs, rather than the new-this-year deep-fried Slimfast bars and deep-fried pickles stuffed with peanut butter. Chicken Charlie said he would go through 5000 gallons of frying oil this fair season.

Vista’s Yakubsin family of five was the first to partake of Dixie’s Mini Donuts in Bing Crosby Hall. This is Dixie Moore’s 23rd year at the booth. She expects to sell close to 200,000 mini-donuts. The Yakubsins bought the first two dozen.

After 45 minutes, Rick, Barbara, and Tom, from Clairemont, sat down to enjoy a beer at the newly renamed Bing’s Bar (after racetrack co-founder Bing Crosby). The group gets together each year for opening day. This year Rick had an entry in the wine-making contest, which was to be judged later that evening.

Diane and her husband, from Serra Mesa, didn’t make it very far before stopping at the Footsie Wootsie foot-massage machines. In anticipation, Diane brought a coin purse full of quarters.

Inside the fair theme’s exhibit building, “It All Started At A Fair” highlighted the 100th anniversary of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, in addition to other historic fairs. In the center of the building, on a rotating platform, was a stock 1965 Mustang, purchased after a California family saw Ford’s preview of the car at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. They paid $3378 for the fully loaded model.

Over at Lost and Found, someone had already lost a Madonna medallion and a cell phone. Manager Kevin said in his 15 years working Lost and Found, the most unusual thing they’ve found was a set of false teeth.

The fourth largest fair in North America runs until July 5 (closed each Monday and Tuesday, June 16).

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Next Article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
Bill and Michelle
Bill and Michelle

The hour before the opening of the San Diego County Fair, on the I-5 exiting southbound at Via de la Valle, traffic was light. But by the time the gates opened at 4:00 p.m. on June 5, a large crowd was awaiting entrance.

Video:

First hour at the fair

Dixie

Dixie

Linda Zweig, spokesperson for the fair, said the unusual start time of 4:00 p.m. — starting a half-day earlier than previous years — was done to give people a chance to not have to fight the traditional Saturday-morning opening-day traffic. Approximately 28,000 people took advantage of the early opening.

Margaret Austin of Escondido repeated her fair appearance. This is her 30th year of being the first person in line. This year she received a complimentary ticket into the fair.

Sponsored
Sponsored
No, Bob, there's no corn between your teeth.

During the first hour of the fair, Bill and Michelle ran to Bob’s Cob stand for their barbecued corn of the cob. Bob’s stand is the first food stand when one enters the fair. He definitely has the best corn, and they’re about 25 cents cheaper than other stands. Bob estimated he’d sell 50,000 cobs this year.

Across the midway, the most popular of food booths, Chicken Charlie’s, Juian of Paradise Hills was the first to place his order. He chose the deep-fried frog legs, rather than the new-this-year deep-fried Slimfast bars and deep-fried pickles stuffed with peanut butter. Chicken Charlie said he would go through 5000 gallons of frying oil this fair season.

Vista’s Yakubsin family of five was the first to partake of Dixie’s Mini Donuts in Bing Crosby Hall. This is Dixie Moore’s 23rd year at the booth. She expects to sell close to 200,000 mini-donuts. The Yakubsins bought the first two dozen.

After 45 minutes, Rick, Barbara, and Tom, from Clairemont, sat down to enjoy a beer at the newly renamed Bing’s Bar (after racetrack co-founder Bing Crosby). The group gets together each year for opening day. This year Rick had an entry in the wine-making contest, which was to be judged later that evening.

Diane and her husband, from Serra Mesa, didn’t make it very far before stopping at the Footsie Wootsie foot-massage machines. In anticipation, Diane brought a coin purse full of quarters.

Inside the fair theme’s exhibit building, “It All Started At A Fair” highlighted the 100th anniversary of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, in addition to other historic fairs. In the center of the building, on a rotating platform, was a stock 1965 Mustang, purchased after a California family saw Ford’s preview of the car at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. They paid $3378 for the fully loaded model.

Over at Lost and Found, someone had already lost a Madonna medallion and a cell phone. Manager Kevin said in his 15 years working Lost and Found, the most unusual thing they’ve found was a set of false teeth.

The fourth largest fair in North America runs until July 5 (closed each Monday and Tuesday, June 16).

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Next Article

2024’s Best Bitcoin & Crypto Casinos – Play BTC Casino Games Online

Best Bitcoin Casinos (2024): Top 10 Crypto Casino Sites for BIG Payouts
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.