Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

California State Fair opens Friday in big return

After two years off, annual ag celebration spotlights food and fun

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 12, 2022

The State Fair Farm showcases California's top crops. (Photo courtesy California State Fair)

It’s back! After a two-year absence due to Covid restrictions, the California State Fair returns Friday for its annual agricultural celebration of the Golden State.

From July 15 through 31, the fair will fill Cal Expo with such traditional favorites as nightly concerts, livestock exhibitions and horse racing.

An extra emphasis will be placed on food as the fair continues to rebrand itself as “California State Fair and Food Festival.” (The festival aspect was added in 2019.) More than 30 food vendors will participate in the fest, which includes a competition for best fair food. (Winner of 2019 Best in Show: Bacon Pecan Cinnamon Rolls by Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls.) In addition, cooking challenges and demonstrations will be held daily.

Also back this summer is the State Fair Farm, a growing display of California’s top crops.

“Here, guests are able to get a Save Mart Passport and learn about more than 70 crops grown in California, learn all about pollinators and their importance in California agriculture, as well as pet a live sturgeon in the aquaculture display,” say the fair organizers. “Receive water-saving tips during California’s drought by visiting the water-efficient gardens sponsored by the Department of Water Resources and get gardening tips from our Master Gardeners booth.”

Yes, the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Sacramento County will be back, answering patrons’ gardening questions.

In addition, the fair is offering a downloadable “Ag Awareness Activity Book” and a virtual version of the State Fair Farm’s Insect Pavilion, spotlighting pollinators. Find both here: https://bit.ly/3AJDogd .

New this year is a “clear bag” rule. Only clear plastic bags, limited to 12 by 12 inches, will be allowed. Except for mini clutches (under 5 by 8 inches), no purses, totes or non-clear bags will be admitted.

Cal Expo is located at 1600 Exposition Blvd., Sacramento. Fair hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays-Sundays. General admission tickets are $14, $12 in advance. Senior admission (age 62 and up) is $12, $10 in advance. Youth admission (ages 5-12) is $10, $8 in advance. Children under age 5 admitted free. Parking: $15.

Details and advance admission tickets: https://calexpostatefair.com .

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

State Fair UCCE master gardeners harvest gardening Sacramento Cal Expo agriculture crops July summer traditions

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Food in My Back Yard Series

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

Local News

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!