County Fair ready to ‘Go Retro’

This year’s San Diego County Fair at the Del Mar Fairgrounds will kick off nearly a week later than usual, due to extended local school schedules, but it will remain open past the Fourth of July. This year’s 20-day run starts Wednesday, June 12, and will run through July 7 (closed Mondays and Tuesdays). The 2024 fair theme is “Let’s Go Retro,” with a special exhibit and themed events that will celebrate the food, fashions, music, toys and hairdos of the 1950s to the 1990s. On Wednesday, fair officials hosted a sneak peek of some of the food and festivities that will be featured this year. Some of the “retro” experiences fair-goers can expect are a disco-themed speakeasy bar on the grandstand rooftop; a Pink Floyd Light Spectacular show in The Sound music venue on June 15; a video game arcade; and new foods celebrating flavor fads of the past, like a funnel cake batter-dipped hot dog and SPAM fries, to name a few. To learn all about this year’s fair — the food, the must-see exhibits, the entertainment and what’s new — read the cover story in next week’s Night & Day on Friday, June 7.

The fair’s Ferris wheel stands ready for action.

(Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)