Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival |
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
The Magic Carpet Stage hosts many of fair's performances
|
|
| Genre | County fair, Fair, Food Festival |
| Date(s) | 10 days (mid-to-late February) |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Indio, California |
| Years active | 78 (at Riverside County Fairgrounds) |
| Inaugurated | 1921 (at Indio City Park) |
| Attendance | 0 (2021-22) |
| Organised by | Riverside County Economic Development Agency Pickering Events LLC |
The Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival is a super fun event that happens every year in Indio, California. It's a big celebration of the Date Palm harvest in the Coachella Valley. This yearly festival has been held since 1947 at the Riverside County Fairgrounds. You can find it in February in Indio, a city in the Colorado Desert. Indio is about 130 miles (210 km) east of Los Angeles.
The Coachella Valley is a special place for dates. About 250,000 date palms grow there on around 5,000 acres (20 km2) of land. These trees produce a huge amount of dates each year, about 35,000,000 pounds! This area grows 95 percent of all the dates in the United States.
The Date Festival has more than 7,000 different displays and contests about dates. But it's not just about fruit! The fair also features live music and comedians. You can see the Date Festival Queen and her court. There are even exciting monster truck shows and bull-riding events. Local police and security teams help keep everyone safe at the fair.
Contents
History of the Date Festival
The fair began as a way to celebrate the end of the yearly date harvest. This desert region in Southern California is the main place where dates are grown in the Western Hemisphere. Dates were not common in the desert until 1903. That's when date palm trees were brought there from Algeria.
By the early 1920s, dates became a very important crop for the area. The places where dates grew, called date groves, also became popular spots for tourists to visit.
First Festivals and Growth
Because the date gardens were so popular, people got the idea for the first Date Festival. It happened in 1921 in Indio's city park. Another festival was held the next year.
Sixteen years later, in 1937, a third Date Festival took place. This time, it was called the Riverside County Fair and the Coachella Valley Date Festival. A local group, the Indio Civic Club, helped organize the event.
That year, there were 72 booths with different displays. About 5,000 people came to the fair. It was also the first time they had a street parade. In 1936, Western themes were popular. So, the fair had a Western style, with cowboy hats and rodeo events.
New Fairgrounds and World War II
In 1940, Riverside County bought the land where the fair is held today. The first 40 acres (160,000 m2) cost $10,000. Over the years, the fairgrounds grew. They bought another 40 acres (160,000 m2), which included a date grove. Today, the fairgrounds cover 120 acres (0.49 km2).
When World War II started, all fairs in California had to stop. After the war ended, a new manager was hired for the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival. He brought in an "Arabian Nights" theme. This idea fit well with the desert area and the date industry.
Recent Years and Future Plans
The fair did not happen from 1923 to 1937, and again from 1942 to 1945. More recently, the fair was paused after 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in 2022, a smaller event called "Thrillville" still took place. It had a carnival and other fun activities.
In June 2022, local leaders approved a plan to bring the Date Festival back. They partnered with a company called Pickering Events LLC. This partnership means the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival will return every year. It also helps make sure the fairgrounds facilities get better.
The next Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival is planned for February 17-26, 2023. It will be a full-scale event again! This is exciting news for Indio, the Coachella Valley, and Riverside County.
Queen Scheherazade Pageant
.jpg)
As part of the "Arabian Nights" theme, the fair has a special scholarship contest. It's called the "Queen Scheherazade" pageant. Students from Riverside County can compete to win money for their college education. The winner also becomes a "goodwill ambassador" for the fair. This means she helps represent the fair and welcome visitors.
See also
