The UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Small Farm Program and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Division of Fairs and Expositions teamed up during the 2012 fair season to connect fruit, vegetable, nut, and flower farmers with county and regional fairs to celebrate California specialty crops. Together we organized workshops and tours for farmers and agricultural leaders at seven different fairs throughout the state, held while the fairs were going on.
Each workshop featured presentations by fair professionals operating innovative agricultural programs. There were talks by farmers and agritourism operators currently involved with local fairs or discussing plans and ideas for cooperative projects and cross-promotion with local fairs or better use of fairground facilities by the agricultural community. Each workshop also included interactive discussions on potential collaborations between specialty crop growers, agritourism operators and fairs, and guided tours of the fair facilities.
Farmers, agritourism operators and fair leaders from surrounding counties were welcome to participate in each fair workshop. Also especially welcome were county agricultural commissioners, Farm Bureau leaders, tourism professionals, farm advisors and educators, fair and festival vendors and entertainers.
Workshop Schedule
(all events are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
- Thursday, June 14 - Shasta District Fair
1890 Briggs Street, Anderson
Shasta workshop agenda
Shasta event flier
- Thursday, July 26 - Amador County Fair
18621 Sherwood, Plymouth
Amador event flier
Amador workshop agenda
- Thursday, August 2 - Ventura County Fair
10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura
Ventura event flier
Ventura workshop agenda
- Thursday, August 9 - Napa Town & Country Fair
575 Third Street, Napa
Napa event flier
Napa workshop agenda
- Thursday, August 16 - Yolo County Fair
1125 East Street, Woodland
Yolo event flier
Yolo workshop agenda
- Thursday, September 13 - Santa Cruz County Fair
2601 E. Lake Avenue, Watsonville
Santa Cruz event flier
Santa Cruz workshop agenda
- Thursday, October 4 - Big Fresno Fair
1121 South chance Avenue, Fresno
Fresno event flier
Fresno workshop agenda
For more information, please contact Diana Paluszak, CDFA Division of Fairs & Expositons, (916) 900-5027
or Penny Leff, UC Small Farm Program, (530) 752-7779.
- A presentation about the workshop series, presented at the Western Association 2013 Conference and Trade Show
News, Notes & Resources frFairs om the Workshops
- An article in Capital Press about the Shasta District Fair Workshop
- An article in Ag Alert about the Yolo County Fair Workshop
- Healthy Food Options at the Marin County Fair
- Redwood Acres Humboldt Made Fair goes local
- Fair friendly group forming in Tehama County
- A local food Marketplace at the Tehama County Fair
- A video about San Miguel Produce, shown at the Ventura County Fair
- A proposal for growing and processing at the Plumas Sierra County Fair
- Yolo County Fair opening night Gala features local farmers & vintners
- A presentation about the Centennial Farm, Orange County Fair
- VisitCalifornia2012 - Presentation from California Travel & Tourism Commission
- Thinking Outside the Box - to Diversify Events & Facility Use - a presentation by Gary Schulz, California Raisin Marketing Board
- Discussion notes from the Shasta workshop
- Discussion notes from the Amador workshop
- Discussion notes from the Ventura workshop
- Discussion notes from the Napa workshop
- Discussion notes from the Yolo workshop
- Discussion notes from the Santa Cruz workshop
- Discussion notes from the Fresno workshop
Our Facebook page, AgTour Connections, with lots of pictures