Quick Take
The Santa Cruz County Fair is set to return Sept. 10-14 to the county fairgrounds outside Watsonville. The fair is expected to have many of its beloved features and attractions, with new additions to the fun, including lucha libre wrestling and something called the Slime Lab.
One of the great appeals of the county fair — perhaps its greatest appeal — is that ideally it never changes. Year after year, fairgoers depend on the corndogs and funnel cakes, the pig races and the horse shows, the county’s largest pumpkin and its best blue-ribbon rhubarb pie. The sameness, year after year, even decade after decade, isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.
But add-ons and improvements? We’ll be happy to take those.
The Santa Cruz County Fair again returns to the county fairgrounds just outside Watsonville from Sept. 10 through 14. And most of it will look, feel, sound and taste just as it always has. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t new wrinkles.
For instance, the fair this year is bringing in the colorful and hugely popular form of Mexican professional wrestling known as “lucha libre” for several free shows (with fair admission) daily. Another new addition is something called the Slime Lab, in which kids and kids-at-heart can have a fine old time playing with goo, a co-presentation with the Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery.
Also new at the 2025 Santa Cruz County Fair is its leadership. Dori Rose Inda, a local activist who has been working for years in providing agricultural and low-income workers with legal services, took on the role as the fair’s CEO and manager.
As the new CEO, Rose Inda said managing the fair is a continuation, of sorts, of her past work in the health care and legal fields: “What I saw in the fair was this sort of last leg of my career as an opportunity to continue in community service in a little bit different role, to focus on the work of joy.”
By the time the fair opens, Inda will have been less than two months on the job, and many of the new features at this year’s fair were, she said, well in the planning stages by the time she came on board.
“It’s really been a situation of ‘hitting the ground running,’” she said of her first few weeks running the fair, “and of learning a new language. I remember the first week I was here, I was really just trying to be clear about what people were saying, in terms of the acronyms, or locations, or references to equipment or places.”
In yet other new features, Rose Inda said that the fair will now offer shuttle service from its vast parking lot to the front gates, to help those not able to walk what can be considerable distances.
Because of precautions with the avian flu, she said, some live animals usually seen at the fair, namely chickens and dairy cows, won’t be available for public access.
As for the big-name entertainment, the fair will feature a different show each night at 7:30 p.m. at the Amphitheater Stage, including the popular Beatles tribute act the White Album Ensemble on Friday, Sept. 12, and a Taylor Swift tribute act called Red on Saturday, Sept. 13.
On the fair’s opening night, a motorcycle stunt show called FMX Rampage will take place at the race track adjoining the fairgrounds. The FMX Rampage show will require a separate ticket: $15 adult; $7 children.
Otherwise, all the pavilions at the fair will be open, featuring displays on collectibles, photography and fine art, textile crafts, agricultural displays, fruits and vegetables, prepared goods, historical exhibits, a model railroad and, of course, the livestock corrals.
The Santa Cruz County Fair attracts up to 50,000 people each fall.
Last week, the Monterey County Fair in Monterey closed early due to several fights that broke out Saturday night. “We are definitely working closely with our security team,” said Rose Inda, “to make sure we’re very prepared to keep our fair safe for everyone this year.”
Tickets for admission to the Santa Cruz County Fair are $22 for adults 13 to 61; $11 for kids 6 to 12 (kids are free on Thursday, Sept. 11). Children 5 and under are free. Adults over 62 are $14, and active duty military is free. Parking is $15, though cars with five or more people are free.
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