Santa Cruz County Fair

Santa Cruz County Fair Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds & Event Center. Home to the annual Santa Cruz County Fair in September and Events Center open for rentals all year long.
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Santa Cruz hosts the quintessential county fair and horse show. The Fair embraces technology, social media, updated buildings and systems and all are used to support an old fashion country fair. Connecting youth with their sources of food and fiber remains a focus of the Fair and that is reflected in strong Ag Hort, Youth, Livestock and Horse Show departments. The learning is wrapped in several la

yers of fun including a full carnival and grounds packed with free stage and roving entertainment. Adults will find that evenings bring out great entertainment on the main Amphitheater Stage.

05/31/2026

๐Ÿ Community.
๐ŸŽกTradition.
๐ŸŽ‰Celebration.
Align your business with the through sponsorship opportunities-- designed to maximize exposure and community engagement.
Contact Claudette at:
[email protected]
or 831-461-1796
or visit santacruzcountyfair.com/sponsorship-opportunities!

05/27/2026

Attention class of 2026!!
25 special graduates will get to ride on the Watsonville Speedway bus!!
Get your bus ticket when you get to the races!!

๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰ CONGRATULATIONS are in order!  High School student, Alondra Jaramillo-Arreola, is the winner of our 2026 Fair Poster ...
05/19/2026

๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰ CONGRATULATIONS are in order!

High School student, Alondra Jaramillo-Arreola, is the winner of our 2026 Fair Poster Art Contest!

Alondra won over more than 20 submissions!

Her poster is a charming, hand-drawn representationโ€ฆ featuring all the elements of this yearโ€™s theme, ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿฅงโญ๏ธ โ€œApple Pies and Starry Skies.โ€ ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿฅงโญ๏ธ

The final artwork will be revealed at a later date... but picture this: a cute cow and pink pig picnicking on apple pie beneath a constellation-filled night sky.

We are so happy to feature Alondra's artwork at the 2026 Fairโ€” our youth and community involvement is what makes the great!!

"๐ŸŒฑ The Santa Cruz County Fair is proud to participate in the Pitch In Santa Cruz County Cleanup Day on May 9thOur fairgr...
05/04/2026

"๐ŸŒฑ The Santa Cruz County Fair is proud to participate in the Pitch In Santa Cruz County Cleanup Day on May 9th

Our fairgrounds have always been a place where community comes togetherโ€”and this is another way we can give back to the place we call home. By joining this county-wide effort, weโ€™re helping keep our neighborhoods, waterways, and shared spaces clean and beautiful for everyone.

At the Santa Cruz County Fair, we value our community deeply. Events like this reflect what we stand for: stewardship, connection, and taking pride in where we live.

We encourage everyone to get involvedโ€”whether you join a cleanup, organize your own, or simply do your part. Every effort makes a difference.

Letโ€™s work together to make Santa Cruz County the cleanest in the state

"

Weโ€™re honored to be recognized with the Santa Cruz Sentinel Newspaperโ€™s Readersโ€™ Choice Award for Best Annual Event in S...
04/30/2026

Weโ€™re honored to be recognized with the Santa Cruz Sentinel Newspaperโ€™s Readersโ€™ Choice Award for Best Annual Event in Santa Cruz Countyโ€”for the THIRD year in a row!

Thank you to our incredible communityโ€”our staff, volunteers, exhibitors, vendors, and fairgoersโ€”who make the Santa Cruz County Fair so special year after year. This recognition belongs to all of you!

We canโ€™t wait to welcome you back September 16โ€“20 for this yearโ€™s theme: โ€œApple Pies and Starry Skies!โ€ ๐Ÿฅง

04/28/2026

โ€œThe cinnamon rolls have left the building!โ€

Thank you everyone who came out for a cinnamon roll and some fair nostalgia the last few weeks. have packed up and left for their summer tour. Theyโ€™ll be back for our county fair September 16-20!

04/24/2026

Tomorrow night. The first ever Outlaw Chase in the trackโ€™s history. Do you think the outlaw can make it 15 laps without getting busted?

Last day is Sunday April 26 at the fairgrounds
04/22/2026

Last day is Sunday April 26 at the fairgrounds

Schedule for the week of april 26th. That will be our final day of the extended pop up! Thank you so much to everyone who has come out to enjoy the Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls , and hang out with us a bit in the springtime. The weather threw us some curves but we have enjoyed every minute. Get your buns over here. Santa Cruz County Fair happening now!

02/15/2026

The Santa Cruz County Fair has unveiled its theme for 2026: โ€œApple Pies and Starry Skies.โ€ The winning theme, selected from nearly 100 submissions, will se

๐Ÿฅงโœจ๐‚๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐’๐š๐ง๐ญ๐š ๐‚๐ซ๐ฎ๐ณ ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐€๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ!โœจ๐ŸŽThe ๐’๐š๐ง๐ญ๐š ๐‚๐ซ๐ฎ๐ณ ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐…๐š๐ข๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐€๐ซ๐ญ ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ is now open for 2026!This yearโ€™s the...
02/12/2026

๐Ÿฅงโœจ๐‚๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐’๐š๐ง๐ญ๐š ๐‚๐ซ๐ฎ๐ณ ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐€๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ!โœจ๐ŸŽ
The ๐’๐š๐ง๐ญ๐š ๐‚๐ซ๐ฎ๐ณ ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐…๐š๐ข๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐€๐ซ๐ญ ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ is now open for 2026!

This yearโ€™s theme: โ€œ๐€๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐’๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฌ.โ€

Create original that captures the magic of the and the spirit of .

Designs may feature agriculture, farm animals, carnival rides, summer scenes, the coastline and starry skies.
As 2026 marks the nationโ€™s 250th anniversary, touches of red, white and blue are welcome but not required.

The winning design becomes the ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐…๐š๐ข๐ซ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ and will be featured in Fair promotions.

Open to Santa Cruz County residents only
๐ƒ๐ž๐š๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž: March 6, 2026 (by 4:00 PM)
๐’๐ฎ๐›๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ: [email protected]
Find full details at ๐ฌ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐š๐œ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ณ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ซ.๐œ๐จ๐ฆ

We canโ€™t wait to see your creativity shine!

Address

2601 E Lake Avenue
Watsonville, CA
95076

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 12pm
1pm - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 12pm
1pm - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 12pm
1pm - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 12pm
1pm - 5pm
Friday 9am - 12pm
1pm - 5pm

Telephone

(831) 724-5671

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