This year, organizers of the Santa Barbara County Fair, decided to shake things up for visitors. I’m your community reporter Makayla Richardson, and I was at the opening weekend to get the specifics on what was changing. Now, I’m following up to see how it all turned out.
At the Santa Barbara County Fair this year, organizers said they wanted to take a risk and add more to what visitors were used to seeing.
Steven Wilkins works with Helm & Sons Amusements, the providers of the rides and games at the fair.
“There is at least 15 new rides that are here," Wilkins said. "Not new rides, but 15 more rides over 52 rides and games total.”
The Santa Maria fairgrounds’ interim CEO Todd Ventura said the board modified the overall layout of the fair, making room for extra rides and vendors.
E&D Hat Co. was added to the lineup this year. Rick De Leon, their founder, said they weren’t sure what to expect walking into the fairgrounds.
“ We knew we had a large following in Santa Maria, but we didn't know when or how they were going to show up," De Leon said. "Thankfully, it's worked out every day and been a success here."
Now, 9 days after opening day, Ventura admits some of the changes came with a few growing pains. While some of the ideas were home runs, Ventura said others were only doubles … like the layout of the fairgrounds and traffic control for people parking at the fair
“It's a lot about safety for us and making sure that we can move people around the property successfully," Ventura said. "So I think those are areas of potential improvement; other things worked really, really well.”
It's too soon to get attendance numbers and to know for certain whether more or fewer people showed up. Ventura speculates that adding three more days to the event and lowering ticket prices helped boost the numbers this year.
“I feel like the numbers have been very steady," Ventura said. "I'm not going to say that we had anything that was off the charts on any one day, particularly. But they were steady numbers”
Organizers will use this year's changes as building blocks for next year. They may throw out or modify what did not work this time around to make next year an even better experience. The possibility of lowering ticket prices further is not off the table.
Champions is a food stand that’s been at the fair for years. Stacy Doane, one of the owners, said she’s seen visitor numbers change with the economy.
“Everybody's worried about the cost of living going up, everything grocery-wise going up," Doane said. "I think when the fair offers that kind of thing that's less money, I think that's a big plus for a lot of parents, for a lot of kids.”
Ventura said the risks were worth the reward.
"It's always a gamble," he said. "You try to make intelligent changes, to make the experience better and give the larger community an opportunity to come enjoy the fair.”
We will bring you the final official numbers once they’re made available.
