Brennan Lynch and his wife, Suzanne Fitzgerald, decided to go to the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo after driving past the Earl Warren Showgrounds on Friday and seeing the Ferris wheel.
“It’s great to see so many families out having fun,” Lynch said.
Lynch and Fitzgerald weren’t planning on going on many rides or playing games, but wanted to walk around and take in the sites — though Fitzgerald was planning to at least ride the Ferris wheel.
This weekend and May 3-5 is the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo. On Saturday hundreds of couples, families and teens enjoyed rides, games, farm animals, food and entertainment.
Rides include a carousel, the zipper, the super shot drop tower, and more. Rides cost three to seven tickets a ride.
In the Exhibit Building fairgoers can take a break from the sun and enjoy displays of art, poetry and crafts submitted by local community members.
The fair has plenty of food to offer including bacon-wrapped hot dogs (and regular hot dogs), baked potatoes, burgers, teriyaki bowls and more. There are also plenty of drinks such as lemonade, iced slushies, soda, beer and wine.
Miranda Boonstra and her wife, Rachel Maseda, decided to come to the fair partly out of boredom, and partly to enjoy the sun after so many gloomy Santa Barbara days.
“We’re checking out the activities, the food, we’re probably going to hit up a ride or two, play some games; we’re making a game plan,” Maseda said. “We might come back next weekend.”
Maseda and Boonstra told Noozhawk they were mostly going to stick to the games but they did plan to ride the carousel.
Boonstra said she was surprised by how big the fair was.
“I didn’t think it was gonna be this big. We were looking at the map earlier, and it’s huge,” Boonstra said. “This is a lot bigger than the one that we have for fiesta.”
Maseda and Boonstra said they usually attend the carnival at SBCC during Old Spanish Days and that they went to the flower festival in Lompoc with family last year.
Admission for the fair is $10 for adults and $6 for children 6 to 12 years old, while admission is free for children 5 and under. Tickets for games and rides are not part of the admission fee.
Parking on site is limited, costs $20 a day, and is cash only. Alternatively, fairgoers can park for free at La Cumbre Junior High School at 2255 Modoc Road or Bishop Diego High School at 4000 La Colina Road.
A trolley will pick people up from these locations for a free ride to the fairgrounds. The trolley runs every 30 minutes, beginning on the hour, and will run 30 minutes before the fair opens and 30 minutes after it closes for the night.
The fair will continue on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the carnival closing at 10 p.m.
The fair will be closed until May 3 when it runs 4 p.m. through 10 p.m.; the carnival will be open until midnight for those already on fairgrounds. On May 4 the fair will be open from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., with the carnival open till midnight. On May 5, the last day to go, the fair will be open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. for the carnival.
