The 2015 Fresno Fair had over 1,400 competitive exhibits from Clovis alone. Competition was high this year due to so many exhibits. Over the past decade The Big Fresno Fair has invested in $16 million dollars worth of improvements.
The activities to do at the fair were endless, carnival games, horse racing, concerts, more than 80 food and drink vendors, animal showcases, rides and so much more.
However the drought takes a toll on everyone, including The Big Fresno Fair. According to the Fresno Bee for the fourth year in a row, California’s devastating drought has affected the fair. The fair had set a goal to use 20 percent less water. Groundskeepers are cutting back by not watering the Mosqueda parking lot, not washing their 14,ooo solar panels as they usually would every week, and adding certain soil to all landscaping areas to retain ground water.
If you were interested in learning how to conserve water you could have stopped by the new exhibit hosted by the California Department of Water Resources. Located in the Commerce Building where they teach you how to save water in your bathroom, laundry room and kitchen. They demonstrated on how to save water and showed different ways you could be wasting water. For example, they had a kitchen display that showed a leaky faucet dripping. The wasted water is being collected in a bucket, and there is a sign that tells you what time the faucet started leaking so you can see how long it takes for a certain amount of water go to waste.
There are all types of different vendors and exhibits at the fair. From art to food, jewelry, and gadgets. Mike Tolmachoff from M & D Honey located in Madera, California, has a honey vendor and sells all natural honey.
We started out with two hives in 1996, from my father-in-law, who is also an almond farmer and bee keeper. We’ve grown every year and now run about 1200 hives. Most of our income for the year is made in pollination. The growers pay us and rent our bees and then we also have a booth we’re selling honey and pollen and bee related materials. As well as having this stuff for sale we always try to educate people about the benefits of honey and pollen, because most people don’t know. — Mike Tolmachoff, M & D Honey
“We started out with two hives in 1996, from my father-in-law, who is also an almond farmer and bee keeper,” Tolmachoff said. “We’ve grown every year and now run about 1200 hives. Most of our income for the year is made in pollination. The growers pay us and rent our bees and then we also have a booth we’re selling honey and pollen and bee related materials. As well as having this stuff for sale we always try to educate people about the benefits of honey and pollen, because most people don’t know.”
For the second year in a row, the Fresno Fair has invited Creative Fresno. Creative Fresno’s booth was located in the art gallery, muralist Teresa Flores describes what the painting will be about.
“[The Fresno Fair] has asked me and my collaborator to facilitate the painting of a mural with people here at the Fresno Fair,” Flores said. “So we are making a community memory in the mural. So what is your favorite thing about the fair, what do you love about the fair, what prize did you win this year, or what’s a food you ate, and were painting those into a mural.”
Last year Creative Fresno was looking around for public locations for their “Mobile Mural Project” and they asked if they could paint at the fair.
“It went really well, and we went viral last year,” Flores said. “See we painted Gabriel ‘Fluffy’ Iglesias up there on top, he re-posted our image and we went viral. And the Fresno Fair really liked our work and they invited us back this year.”
Throughout the 12-day event, a total of approximately 608,269 people attended. This is about a five percent increase from 2012, which was also a 12-day event.
The fair’s largest amount of attendants was in 2014 with 666,621.
This writer can be reached via Twitter: @_VanessaWood and via email: Vanessa Wood.
For more information on the fair, read Big Fresno Fair creates community, education.
