Sonoma County Fair: Free fun 'down on the farm'

When people go to the Sonoma County Fair, they often talk about features that cost extra - the carnival, the arena concerts, the food booths, the horse races.

But it’s worth remembering that once you’ve paid admission at the front gate, you could easily spend the rest of the day on free attractions. This year’s fair, opening July 24, offers more no-cost fun than ever.

And some of those freebies are among the most popular features the fair has to offer: the Hall of Flowers, for example.

“One of the things that separates the Sonoma County fair from all the other fairs is that this is the largest themed flower show,” said Greg Duncan, in his 21st year as designer of the annual Hall of Flowers display.

“We put together an entire unified theme with a lot of set dressing, water features and murals,” he said. “It has traditionally been something that everybody talks about, and a reason to come to the fair.”

The Hall of Flowers theme this year is “Barnyard Blossoms,” spinning off the fair’s overall theme, “Down on the Farm.”

“Each garden is about a different barnyard animal,” Duncan said. “So they’re all themed around that, whether it’s ‘Cowabunga’ or ‘Ewephoria’ or ‘Chicken Shackula.’ They’re all whimsical.”

Jane Engdahl, the fair’s special events coordinator for at least three decades, also found this year’s farm theme fertile ground for fun ideas.

“There’s a lot we can have fun with,” Engdahl said. “This year in our community theater area, we have an activity area for all ages, adults as well as kids. We’re going to have a farm-themed obstacle course and scarecrow building, all kinds of things.”

While the ticketed concerts in the fair’s Chris Beck Arena get more attention, most of the live entertainment is free with fair admission, Engdahl said.

“This year we have a lot of variety acts,” she said. “There’s more acts on stage than we’ve had in years. We’ve got jugglers, magicians and Sourdough Slim, the yodeling cowboy, and a lot more. I’m telling people to plan ahead because there’s so much going on they’ll have to mark their schedules to hit it all.”

Traditionally, the fair’s pig races have been a crowd-pleaser, but this year, the field of competitors has been drastically expanded.

“This takes it to a whole other level. We’ll have a whole assortment of animals racing each other, and I have it on pretty good authority that some of them are going to cheat,” Engdahl joked. “We have a goat and a chicken and a pig. It varies from day to day.”

Every day at 5 p.m., the fair will present a free parade and fair-goers are invited to join in the fun.

“We have all kinds of drums and things that they can play, and flags they can carry and costumes they can wear,” she said. “We urge everyone to come and be part of the parade.”

On Fridays and Saturdays, there also will be a lighted parade around the fairgrounds after dark.

Engdahl is known for her playful and inventive contests and even holds contests inviting fair fans to come up with new contests.

“It’s hard to come up with a new contest, but this year we’re going to have an amateur shoe-tying contest, for people who have learned to tie their shoes within the past year,” Engdahl said.

“One contest I’m very excited about is butter sculpting,” she said. “We’re going to give each contestant a little block of butter and a plastic knife, and we’ll see what they can come up with.”

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.