Riverside County Fairgrounds (National Date Festival)

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What visitors say

• Jorge Fernandez de Cordova★★★★★

  I wasn't aware of such cool place. We came here because I got tickets to the demolition derby, and what a show. I didn't know Demo Derby could be so fun.

  6 months ago

• Ethan Bailey★★★★★

  I have a lot to say so: TLDR: Everything felt over priced and expensive but the fair felt fairly clean and secure. A lot of vendors felt the same. If you included entry tickets and parking, for a party of one you were already at ~$30. If you were a family of 3 it rose up to around $75 just at entry. There wasn’t much you can do with just the entry either. All the rides and big shows were more expensive and costed more. This made folks not want to spend more money on goods in the fair. This is an issue this year especially with the economy and political situation. A solution could have been to incorporate free days on the weekdays to increase flow during those slower days. Or cheapen the tickets for everyone throughout the fair. Food also was very expensive and low quality. I ordered a carne asada fries and it was around $23 including tax. The cheese they used was nacho cheese and it tasted like cafeteria quality food. One cinnamon roll was $12 by itself with toppings making it cap at $14. A box of 6 with toppings(frosting) neared $60. I also heard the monster truck show was a let down since a few of the trucks kept breaking down and the size of the arena limited them so much. The noise level of some of the events were atrocious as well, I was next to the desert stage at one point and the sound of the speakers during the high-school events made talking with people extremely difficult and just want to leave the area. Additionally, a lot of the vendors felt the same with a lot of them being Chinese rip off toy vendors. I was noticing about 1-2 of these style vendors every 1000 feet. I am not saying they shouldn’t be allowed but I do think they stomped on other vendors around them, especially when the other vendors made their own wares. This was largely due to their ability to sell a large variety of goods for cheap prices. Allowing this quantity of knock off vendors was a big issue as well. This is a county fair, you have an entire county of artists you can bring in to sell here. And at minimum an entire state of artists. Basically decrease the amount of knockoff vendors and increase the amount of artist vendors. And be strategic about what vendors can and can’t sell. Another thing, it was oddly hot the last weekend and finding a place to get water for cheap or free was nonexistent. Paying $7-8 for a water bottle in the desert when it’s 90-100F out should be illegal. The go cart ambulance was pretty cool though. I am sharing this as someone who will likely never go back to this fair, but I do hope the fair management reads this and can use it to better the fair.

  5 months ago

• Pam Lakman★★★★★

  It was a very hot day at the fair. That said, there was lots to see and the band we heard at one of the stages was great!

  5 months ago

• Ericka Shafer★★★★★

  Loved all the exhibits and animals ❤️ Some food was good, some was a total waste of money. Overall I enjoyed it but wouldn't go hungry.

  5 months ago

• Rita Figueroa★★★★★

  My visit was on Saturday, February 24. Came for the Rodeo and enjoyed some bbq. My goodness, the ribs were huge and full of meat, for $21, it's 5 ribs, and the guys gave me 7 ribs. Thank you! The food was well worth it. The Rodeo was 2 hours of fun. It was really crowded so next year plan your trip to find parking ($15 to $20) and try to buy your tickets ahead of time, that will save you a lot of time.

  2 years ago

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