The California Mid-State Fair has come and gone, and now it’s time to see how the fair fared.
A roar, now a whisper — the grandstand that shook with cheers now sits silent, a stadium of empty seats.
Once filled with carnival rides, vendors and a packed grandstand arena, the California Mid-State Fair has closed the curtain on 2026.
“We had a great fair this year!” said California Mid-State Fair CEO Colleen Bojorquez. “I judge how well we did, really, with how well we feel about what we put out to the public, and how well we took our community and showcased it, and I think that was really good this year.”
With final numbers from the fair now in, attendance surged. More than 430,000 fairgoers came through the gates, a 12% increase from last year.
Grandstand crowds topped 90,500, and with the sold‑out Chris Stapleton pre‑fair concert, total grandstand attendance climbed past 105,000 — up 26.5%. The flip side: long entry lines were a top complaint I heard from people in the community.
“We’ve never done anything like that before. There were some things that happened we weren’t expecting, and so our lines at our gates were extremely long,” Bojorquez said. “We were able to get everyone in by 9 o’clock, which was the goal to have our gates close at 9 o’clock.”
Bojorquez tells KSBY News not one person missed the concert.
“Whether or not we have another pre-fair concert is yet to be determined,” she said.
While some people griped about cramped parking lots, Bojorquez says the free shuttles are key.
“Parking is always an issue. We don’t have a whole lot of space,” she said. “Our whole fairgrounds, including our parking, is only 45 acres, so it’s really small. That’s why we pay to have SLO Safe Ride do their service. It’s something that we’re committed to do, because we know the problem is that people can’t get here, so we want to make sure people can get here.”
The Helm & Sons Carnival brought in a little more than $1.6 million, slipping 4% from last year.
The real story: the Junior Livestock Auction shattered records at $4.02 million, and mentors from Warrior Goats cheered as Luke Henard and Javier (Javie) Perez, both students with special needs who KSBY spoke with ahead of the auction, landed some of the highest bids of the day.
“I wasn’t expecting that, so that was crazy!” Perez’s mentor Danica Sutton said. “It’s my first year. It’s also Javie’s first year, so we weren’t used to like the average prices until we watched the first ones, and we’re just so grateful for our community.”
The proceeds from goat sales go back to Luke and Javie.
Planning for the Mid-State Fair starts before the current one even ends, so preps for the 2027 fair, which runs from July 14-25, are already underway.
KSBY News
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