Let the Iowa State Fair have its butter cow.
The annual celebration of all things California boasts a monorail inspired by Walt Disney himself, futuristic concrete architecture, a wine garden that pours award-winners and blue-ribbon tributes to the nation’s No. 1 agricultural producer (which would be — ahem — California and not any Midwestern state).
With that combination, you’d think Rodgers and Hammerstein had moved their “State Fair” musical to Tomorrowland.
Over the decades, the California State Fair in Sacramento has transitioned from a homespun, tree-shaded affair with blue-ribbon jams and quilts to a modern fair that tackles contemporary topics (a farmworker exhibit last year) while still finding room for all those blue-ribbon jams and quilts.
It’s a juxtaposition that, like this unwieldy state, somehow works. A somber 9/11 memorial created from a beam at ground zero occupies a plaza on the grounds, while a cool series of 11-foot-tall C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A letters (they came from Disney’s California Adventure park a few years ago) welcomes visitors at the front gate.
But the 2018 fair may reflect its roots more than ever before. The state’s first exhibition, in 1854, was an agricultural one, with a total of $5,000 awarded as “premiums for the best examples of fruits, flowers, grains and vegetables,” Carson Hendricks’ “California State Fair” history and photo book says.
Officials here had taken their cue from fairs back East, where farmers gathered to show off not their crops, but their cattle and other livestock. In fact, what’s regarded as North America’s oldest agricultural fair, founded in 1765, is still going strong. The Hants County Exhibition will put on its 253rd fair this September in Nova Scotia, with heritage cattle breeds, poultry shows, dressage demos, tractor pulls and, to show they’re not stuck in the past, goat yoga.
At this year’s California fair, agricultural successes both in the barn and in the fields will be honored, with an emphasis on the still-growing wine and microbrew industries. Awards will go to the best wines (a whopping 2,700 entries were judged), plus craft beers, olive oils, cheeses and honey — as well as the top home-baked goodies, home-brewed beers and kids’ efforts at canning pickles.
Fairgoers can sample those gold-medal libations at the wine and beer gardens, learn the differences between olive oil at tasting seminars and pick up blue-ribbon tips from judges in the amateur categories.
The “what’s new” list for the July 13-29 fair emphasizes the state’s future as an agricultural leader.
National Geographic will head West to present a major photographic exhibit, “The Future of Food,” which explores the challenges of population growth. “It’s going to highlight how California helps feed the world,” State Fair spokeswoman Darla Givens said.
And a life-size board game called “Life’s Big Ag-venture” will walk kids through the possibilities related to that challenge: Could they see themselves as farmers? Or in other technological or environmental roles in the agriculture industry?
Or maybe they could see themselves winning a messy pie-eating contest. Sacramento embraces every fair tradition, from wiener dog races and a baby animal barn to midway rides and vendors selling the latest in slicer-dicer gadgets.
Two big draws are free with fair admission: live thoroughbred horse racing (Thursdays-Sundays) and concerts by country, rock, R&B and pop acts (on 16 nights).
The secrets to a good day at the fair? Arrive early to beat the heat, ride the monorail for a good view of everything you’ll want to see and do, head for the midway games and rides in the morning or at night, check out the indoor exhibits in air-conditioned halls during the hottest hours of the day, find the cooling stations (they’re adding more this year) and then stake out seats for the nighttime concert.
Oh, and when the temperature starts rising, make a beeline for Sacramento’s iconic maker of fruit freezes, Merlino’s, a tradition since 1946. Cal Expo legend has it that a fairgoer suffering from heat stroke was handed a freeze — and recovered before medics arrived.
