The Big Fresno Fair

Racetrack Grandstands in 1888

A group of local businessmen, growers and ranchers formed an organization called the "Fresno Fair Grounds Association" in February 1883. The original directors were Dr. Lewis Leach, M. I. Donahou, Frederick A. Woodworth, A. B. Butler and T. M. Hughes.[2] The association sold stock to raise funds and with those funds, bought a tract of land from Thomas E. Hughes & Sons and began construction of a horse racetrack. Following official admission to the National Trotting Association, the first races occurred in May 1884 and the new track was assessed to be in "first-class order" by a writer from the Sacramento Bee.[3] The first Fresno Fair opened in October 1884 and featured a five-day race horse meet, a few produce displays and several head of livestock.[4]

The fairgrounds only consisted of a racetrack until 1888, when a grandstand and a pavilion were completed a few weeks before the fair opened.[4] The fair was well attended and the races draw many bettors, however by 1895, the fair succumbed to the depression of the 1890s and the fairgrounds property was put up for sale under foreclosure.[4]

An airplane races an automobile at the fairgrounds horse racetrack in 1910

Mapped route of the 1914 Cross City Race, from Downtown Fresno to the fairgrounds

The fairgrounds property was bought by Fresno County in 1901 for $30,000 and a period of uncertainty and missed years of the fair followed.[4] Management the fair was taken over by the Fresno County Agricultural Association which added stability but the organization still struggled to convince county supervisors to fund needed improvements to the fairgrounds and its facilities.[5] A collective of local banks, churches, merchants associations and the chamber of commerce signed a petition asking for fairgrounds improvements and broke through the county's reluctance to spend.[5] An agricultural exhibit building was completed in 1911, an industrial exhibit building was completed in 1912 and dynamic new secretary named Clyde Eberhart was hired. All this led to a decade of growth for the fair. A commerce building was completed in 1914 and the fair drew governor Hiram Johnson to attend as a guest of honor in 1916.

The 1914 Fair organized a unique kickoff event, a cross-city running race. The race starting line was in Roeding Park and it ended in a lap around the mile-long horse race track at the fairgrounds. Fifteen runners from around the state competed and Oliver Millard, of the San Francisco Olympic Club, won.[6]

Historian Donald Marti credits the Big Fresno Fair for popularizing intentional train wrecks as a fair event spectacle across the US, an idea of Eberhart's. The first Fresno intentional train wreck was in 1919 and was attended by 35,000 people.[7][8]

In 1919, both the Fresno District Fair organization and the California Raisin Association (the organizer of a popular annual spring festival) were disbanded as the result of a lawsuit and both groups were taken over by the Fresno Chamber of Commerce.[9] In 1920, the Chamber made an agreement with Prince Speedway Construction Company, based in Los Angeles, to build an automobile track at the fairgrounds and to conduct two race per year there for a period of ten years in exchange for $50,000 and the majority of the earnings from the races.[9]

The speedway was built out of 2x4 lumber placed on their sides and was regarded as one of the fastest tracks in the country. The first high level race it hosted was during the 1920 AAA Championship Car season. It continued to be a stop on the AAA racing circuit through the 1926 season. Multiple fires damaged the track but were repaired. The track succumbed to lawsuits and the pressure from newer speedways and was torn down in 1927.

In 1938, a reinforced concrete grandstand with 4,000 seats and a restaurant was built to replace the original Victorian-style turreted wood grandstand at the track. The last Fresno Fair before a seven-year hiatus was in 1941.

Temporary Detention Camp Japanese Americans at Fresno Assembly Centers during World War 2. Girls learning batons use

Fairgrounds used as Army training center

Fresno Assembly Center merit badge card for the Boy Scouts of America dated October 2, 1942. Recipient is actually named Roy Nakagawa, not Ray Nakagama

The Fresno Fairgrounds was the site of one of several temporary detention camps located throughout the West that represented the first phase of the mass incarceration of 97,785 Californians of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Pursuant to Executive Order 9066, thirteen makeshift detention facilities were constructed at various California racetracks, fairgrounds, and labor camps.[10] These facilities were intended to confine Japanese Americans until more permanent internment camps could be built in isolated areas of the country, such as Manzanar and Tule Lake in California. Beginning on March 30, 1942, all native-born Americans and long-time legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California were ordered to surrender themselves for detention. 5,344 Japanese Americans from Fresno and the surrounding area passed through the Fresno Assembly Center before being transferred to the Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas and Gila River, Arizona.[11] California Historical Landmark #934 is a memorial dedicated to the more than 5,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry who were confined at the fairgrounds from May to October 1942. The marker is part of an expanded Fresno Assembly Center Memorial that lists in bronze the names of all who were incarcerated there with photos and personal commentaries by former Valley internees and their families. Banners highlighting photos from the era also educate visitors about the historical significance of the site.

When the Assembly Center closed, the fairgrounds became the Fresno Army Air Forces Training Center home of the Army Air Forces Basic Training Center No. 8. This was the United States Army Air Forces Fourth Air Force's non-flying training facility. At is peak it covered 300 acres for orientation and initial training of new forces. The Training Center closed on February 13, 1946.[12]

Livestock animal at The Big Fresno Fair

In 1948, the fair was reborn under the leadership of Tom Dodge and the State's 21st District Agricultural Association,[4] but the Army's use of the fairgrounds had left them in disrepair. By 1953, both the agricultural and industrial exhibit buildings were razed due to the estimated cost to renovate them.[5] New buildings were erected in their place.

The 1972 fair broke previous attendance records with 460,100 visitors.[13]

A grandstand addition, as well as an expansion of the Paul Paul Theater, was completed in time for 1979 fair opening.

A lawsuit between a Fresno artist and the fair was filed after the 2015 fair barred his painting, depicting a confederate flag, from being displayed. The fair allowed the painting to be displayed at the 2016 fair and the state settled the lawsuit in the artist's favor.[14]

Cell phone video of a brawl at the 2015 fair went viral on social media and led to increased police presence at future fairs.[15] Fair patrollers include security guards, the Fresno Police and Fresno County Sheriff's Office.

Attendance for the 2019 fair was 632,590.

A virtual fair occurred in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled all live events & rides. A "drive through" fair was also offered.

The Big Fresno Fair Museum

In 2013, The Big Fresno Fair opened the Big Fresno Fair Museum. Located in O'Neill Hall, the Museum features the history of The Big Fresno Fair, Fresno agriculture and the City of Fresno. It has more than 2,600 items, including an exhibit by American photographer Pop Laval. In 2014, a documentary-style video, Heritage Talks, was added to the museum that features an oral history from Building Superintendents, Boards of Directors, staff members, concessionaires, and horse racing enthusiasts In 2015, the museum expanded to include a new 14,000 square foot building which houses the Fresno County Historical Museum. In 2018, the History of Boxing exhibit was added.