The fair first took place in the year 1890 and consisted of some minor exhibits in Santa Ana and a horse race. From 1889 to 1894 the fair was run by the Orange County Community Fair Corporation, but was then taken over by the Orange County Fair Association, Inc. Early fairs mainly consisted of horse races and livestock shows, but around 1900 new carnival-like attractions were added and the fair become a yearly occurrence. The fair was located in Santa Ana, except for a brief interval after World War I, when it was moved to Huntington Beach. Starting in 1916, the fair was managed by the Orange County Farm Bureau. An Orange County Fair Board was elected in 1925, and the fair was moved to Anaheim with the addition of a rodeo and carnival. From 1932 to 1939, the fair was located in Pomona, California as part of a combined Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside County Fair. Following World War II the 32nd District Agricultural Association was formed by the state of California, and it took on the task of running the fair. The state purchased land from the Santa Ana Army Air Base and set some of it aside for use as a new fairgrounds. In 1949 the fair became a five-day-long event and was relocated to the old army base, which quickly became the permanent location. The city ofCosta Mesa was incorporated in 1953 with the fair residing in its boundaries. The fairgrounds' 150 acres has been the home of the fair ever since 1949 and has expanded to an annual 23 day summer event. On April 27, 2020 for the first time since 1945, the 2020 fair was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; come 2021, hand sanitisers will be installed within the premises, to prevent this and other diseases from spreading.
Fairground sale
In May 2009, then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recommended the Orange County Fairgrounds be listed for sale. He had decided the fairgrounds were "surplus or underutilized" assets, although the Fair hosts more than one million visitors each year and is utilized virtually every day of the week with multiple community activities. OC Weekly reported, "What followed was a story of deception by a small group in a position of power within the fairgrounds hierarchy. Through various contractual agreements between people of wealth and power, a move was made to privatize that public land in what members of the Orange County Fairgrounds Preservation Society call one of the largest, most deliberate land grabs in the county's long history of land grabs." The Preservation Society quickly stepped in to halt the sale. They contended that the OC legislators in Sacramento had been remiss in intervening to stop the transaction, that the proposed deal to sell public land was both "Ill-advised and illegal." Both the Del Mar Fairgrounds and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum were saved by just such an intervention by the legislators. A public auction was held, but before any sales agreements could be signed, there were two lawsuits filed and the sale was stopped. The Preservation Society, and Tel Phil Enterprises filed in the Court of Appeal and asked that the new governor Jerry Brown have the sale categorically dismissed. Lawsuits by two former building commissioners that Schwarzenegger had fired, however, stalled the proposed sale long enough for incoming Governor Brown to have the final word.
After a closed session on January 27, 2011, the OCFEC Board of Directors issued the following policy statement regarding the sale of the fairgrounds: On February 8th, 2011, the 32nd District Agricultural Association sent a letter to Governor Jerry Brown, which can be viewed as a PDF at the site.
Gubernatorial response
In February 2011, California Governor Jerry Brown told the Los Angeles Times, "This is not the best time to be selling real estate. I think we have time to consider what we ought to do with that." He also said that his predecessor's plan, rather than helping California's budget crisis, would "have cost taxpayers far more in the long run." Assemblyman Jose Solorio stated that Brown's comments were "a good sign."
Attendance
The Orange County Fair is the 9th-largest fair in the United States.
Year
Attendance
2019
1,393,482
2018
1,470,636
2017
1,334,000
2016
1,344,996
2015
1,301,445
2014
1,337,167
2012
1,300,000
2011
1,400,280
2010
1,135,536
2009
1,070,061
2008
1,062,673
2007
1,090,653
2006
924,315
2005
1,058,192
2004
963,984
2003
881,596
2002
898,197
2001
843,347
2000
808,810
1999
724,561
1998
723,061
1997
785,944
Climate
The Fairground in Costa Mesa has a Mediterranean climate, that is nearly perfect for its many outdoor activities.
