Carnival & Fair News

Running April 30 through May 4th, the Merced County Spring Fair, held in Los Banos, Calif., was a big success this year, from the carnival to the rodeo.

According to the manager of the Merced County Spring Fair, Cinnamon Howell, the fair's theme, “Cows, Plows, and Oh Wows!” was taken from an essay by Dos Palos High School sophomore Courtney Fernandes. Submitted for the Spring Fair Heritage Foundation annual essay contest, Fernandes won a $500 scholarship, and her theme was seen throughout the fair, capturing both the venue's agricultural importance and its fun.

Howell noted that involving young people like Fernandes in the fair was important, calling young people the “heartbeat of our community,” and the “future of agriculture and their role in it…[and] our city and our fair.”

The theme of the show is more than a mere slogan for Howell, as it also provides the direction taken for fair decorations, promotions, and branding, and is used in the fair's official poster, yard signs, digital ads, and on-site decor.



Butler Amusements ran the carnival rides, also providing fair food, and the glow of midway lights, with unlimited rides priced at $35 at the gate, $30 pre-sale. Butler brought more than 30 rides to the event, including its nearly 100-foot-tall Ferris wheel and the Zipper.

Admission to the fair itself was $15 at the gate, $12 during pre-sale for adults; $5 for kids ages 6-12, and free for kids ages 5 and under, as well as for veterans and seniors 65 and up. Parking was priced at $5. Grandstand events were separately ticketed, with the Friday night Destruction Derby a $25 ticket, Saturday's 4 x 4 pulls priced at $25 as well, and the Sunday rodeo event $10.

The five-day fair also featured free attractions such as the Jack Spareribs Pirate Ship, hypnotist Tina Marie, and a Tiny Princess Contest. In the Exhibit Building, fairgoers were entertained by a Cupcake/Muffin War, a homemade pasta sauce contest, the Best Ever Cookie Contest, Nuts About Almonds, and a homemade sausage contest. Kids had their own competition, with a baking contest, and learned about area agriculture at the Little Hands for Ag exhibit, and the Henry Miller Farm. Other exhibits included photography, flowers, and the arts, along with a wide variety of products on display at the Commercial Building. There were over 7,602 exhibits in all, entered by over two thousand exhibitors, including livestock, arts, crafts, woodworking, and metal.

There were more than a dozen free musical events as well: Outlaw Mariachi performed, as did Songs of the Eagles, a tribute band; Mariachi Juvenil Corazon Ranchero; a Tribute to Jimmy Buffet; and Codigo Privado, all on the outdoor stage. Other performances included West Coast Martial Arts, a Dance Explosion Performance Team, and at the rodeo, Banda Perla Alegra also entertained.

Roving performers were popular, too, including the Fritters' mascot Ragoo, cow and horse stilt walkers, and Skip Banks' Hollywood on Wheels comedy.

Livestock exhibitions included goats and sheep, a rabbit show, and swine, with the livestock auction held near the carousel area.  And of course, attendees could also enjoy a May Day Parade, which ran from downtown to the main gate of the fair.

Howell points out that the fair was extremely successful this year, right down to the extensive “positive feedback” about the event from the vendors and attendees.

Attendance was just as strong as the positive reviews: the Destruction Derby and Rodeo were sold out or close to it. Among the 60 vendors present at the fair, many of the 18 food vendors present cited record-breaking numbers.



While those final numbers are still pending, Howell says the strength of attendance this year was likely to be significantly higher than in 2024.

She explains that the fair “drew good crowds every day,” and that this year “the weather was definitely on our side.”

Merced County Supervisor and previous fair board member Scott Silveira also described high attendance and observed that despite cooler temps and some wind on the fair's Friday date, there was only a small drop in crowd size.

The successful livestock auction also indicated a strong turnout. Although the fair did not feature any poultry or dairy cows this year, in order to control any possibility of bird flu transmission. Current restrictions in Merced County prohibit the exhibition of dairy animals along with other species and restrict the presence of poultry.  These bans were implemented by California State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Jones because of the spread of H5N1 bird flu across the state.

But even without dairy cattle and poultry, the livestock auction did well, Howell says, with 720 animals auctioned, bringing in $1.1 million in revenue.



The livestock building itself improved this year, due to new concrete flooring replacing the worn barn floor mats. The upgrade was due, Howell states, to a significant donation by Morning Star Packing that allowed the fair to realize this major improvement. And along with the addition of a new cement floor, seating improved too, as the Spring Fair Heritage Foundation donated new bleachers for the show ring.

Advanced sales for carnival wristbands also rose this year, with Butler Amusements asserting that there were nearly 5,000 wristbands sold before opening day, a number which topped the fair's previous year record-breaker of 4,500.

Among the biggest draws were grandstand events, with the Friday night performance of the destruction derby completely sold out, as was the Sunday rodeo. Saturday night's tractor pull came close to being a sell-out as well, Howell says.

Food contest entries were also epic, with the fair's cookie contest presenting a record number of participants, while 10,000 kids visited the Little Hands agricultural exhibit.

“We always want the perfect fair. Perfect is impossible, of course, but every year we strive for it,” said Silveira.

When asked about how she felt the fair went overall, Howell shared, “The fair was a huge success because of the Los Banos community supporting the fair. We couldn't do it without their support.”