Nothing symbolizes the American character better than a county
fair. If you really want to find out what our great nation is all
about, just visit a good, old-fashioned expo of our land’s
agricultural bounty.
Nothing symbolizes the American character better than a county fair. If you really want to find out what our great nation is all about, just visit a good, old-fashioned expo of our land’s agricultural bounty.
We’re lucky we have one of California’s best county fairs here in the South Valley. And it takes place this weekend at Bolado Park about 8 miles south of Hollister. Every autumn there, you’ll find the traditional kaleidoscope of 4-H exhibits, livestock demonstrations, cotton candy and hotdogs, truck pulls, carnival rides, and little kids with ice cream-smeared faces.
The weather prognosticators say that this weekend’s forecast is – appropriately enough – “fair.” So if you get a chance, go out to Bolado Park and enjoy the sunny meteorological conditions and the county fair.
Speaking of weather, a heavy deluge 84 or so years ago helped inspire the San Benito County Fair to be held in its present Bolado Park location. Here’s the history …
San Benito County’s fair got its start in 1890 as a traditional harvest-time gathering for local farmers. In its initial years, its organization was a bit haphazard. Farmers showed-off their field produce at a warehouse in the northern section of Hollister. Livestock was displayed on the other end of town at what’s now Veterans Memorial Park.
By 1900, the farmers and ranchers found a central location for their fair – where San Benito High School now stands. One week in 1922, unseasonable torrential rains hit coastal California right before fair time. The Fair Board considered canceling the event that year due to severe flooding.
Luckily, with a farmer’s “can-do” spirit, someone came up with the idea of asking rancher Julia Bolado Davis (affectionately known as “Mama Dulce”) if she’d host the fair at her Santa Anita Ranch a mile south of Tres Piños. Mama Dulce welcomed fair-goers that year with open arms.
The new location proved so popular that the next year Davis donated 54 acres of her ranch as a public park and county fairgrounds. She named it Bolado Park after her pioneer father, Joaquin Bolado. The San Benito County Fair has been held there ever since – rain or shine.
Santa Clara County also has had its share of fairs Its present fairgrounds along San Jose’s Tully Road became the permanent site in 1939 when the county bought 95 acres of the Macomber Ranch for $35,000. Two years later, the county opened its first fair – with 55,000 visitors attending.
But dark storm clouds now gather over the Santa Clara County Fair. Its future looks a bit bleak as it keeps losing money – about $2.3 million since 1995 – and attendance keeps dropping. There were 31,000 visitors this year for the fair’s three days in early August, half the number from last year.
Adding to the fair’s problems are the stormy politics behind a major renovation of its property. The fair’s site is now in a disarray as construction has been delayed due to a legal squabble the city of San Jose and the county have fought over a proposed concert hall on the fairgrounds.
To get a perspective of Santa Clara County Fair’s woes and how it can weather them, I chatted recently with San Benito County Fair manager Kelley Ferreira about what makes the annual fair he runs so special. He told me it’s the people behind the scenes who are the key to success of San Benito’s fair year after year.
“We are really lucky,” he told me. “We’re a smaller fair, but we’ve got a really supportive community. What really drives our fair is the incredible force of volunteers we have here.”
I agree. San Benito’s fair wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for the local folks giving of their time and energy and dollars. But I think there’s something more.
Part of that something is the scenic canyon that Bolado Park is set in. It has a rural charm. It’s a country setting where you feel as if you’ve stepped back in time to days long before high-tech gizmos. It’s a place Julia Bolado Davis would still enjoy.
Also, the fair’s overall success comes from the fact San Benito County still has a fairly rural population. The annual aggie gathering is sort of a reunion of the farming community where you get to see old friends and make new ones.
Yes, most definitely, the San Benito County Fair has got something magical that its northern neighbor lacks. I’ve been to both county fairs, and believe me, there’s a huge difference between the two.
The Santa Clara County Fair simply lacks that country ambiance. A big part of the problem is its urban setting. Lost amidst Silicon Valley’s urban businesses and tract homes, it’s been “city-fied.”
At its core, at its very essence, a county fair needs to be a “country fair.” And set in the middle of the high-tech capitol of the world … well, it’s hard keeping those agricultural roots going with the former “Valley of Heart’s Delight” now only a nostalgic memory.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage has proposed the idea of bringing the Santa Clara County Fair down to the South Valley area. “I’m exploring all the options now,” he told me. “We’re looking for land that someone might donate… a nicer spot to relocate the fairground.”
Transferring the fair to the Morgan Hill, San Martin or Gilroy area has a lot of merit, but it’s also probably not going to happen any time in the near future. Gage would be the first to admit that fact, especially with Santa Clara County projecting a $201 million deficit that will require spending cuts and government employee layoffs.
Still, California farmers and ranchers are famous for their “can-do” spirit. Maybe somewhere the South Valley community has someone as generous as Julia Bolado Davis. Maybe like “Mama Dulce,” there’s someone here who’d love to donate enough land to build a brand-new fairground.
Remember, nothing symbolizes the American character better than a county fair.
