Sponsored
San Diego County Fair
2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar, CA 92014
(858) 755-1161
June 5–July 5, 2015
Closed Mondays and the first two Tuesdays
Summertime and the San Diego County Fair go hand in hand, as families and fans flock to Del Mar to explore this dynamic annual event. Nodding to the local centennial celebration, the 2015 Fair carries the theme “A Fair to Remember: Celebrate the World’s Fairs & Balboa Park.”
For centuries, people have traveled across the globe to see the wonders of the human mind and hand—the latest inventions, architecture, arts, agriculture, and entertainment—at World’s Fairs. The bicycle, Ferris Wheel, telephone, ice cream cone, mustard, air conditioning, and the Ford Mustang all made their debut at a World’s Fair.
In 1915, Balboa Park captured international attention as the Fair came to San Diego for the Panama-California Exposition. At the stroke of midnight on December 31, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pressed a button back in Washington, D.C., which—via telegraph—ignited an electric-powered light attached to a balloon soaring 1,500 feet above Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama, to the delight of the crowd.
Held annually since its launch in 1880 in National City, the Fair has made Del Mar its permanent home since 1936. The 2015 Fair will spotlight the past by showcasing the inventions premiered at World’s Fairs from the 1800s to the current World’s Fair in Milan, Italy. It will also look to future World’s Fairs in Astana, Kazakhstan (2017) and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2020), imagining what innovations might dazzle audiences abroad or right here at the San Diego County Fair!
San Diego County Fair
DAVE GATLEY
