Hired in 2023 to lead the Santa Cruz County Fair, CEO Zeke Fraser announced Friday that he is leaving as of Feb. 2 for medical reasons.
Santa Cruz County Fair
Her apple pie is best in Santa Cruz County, and she’s sharing the recipe
Aptos’ Julie Titus took home “Best in Show” at this week’s 47th annual Apple Pie Baking Contest, held at the Santa Cruz County Fair on Wednesday.
Photos: First day of the 2024 Santa Cruz County Fair
The 2024 Santa Cruz County Fair opened Wednesday with a theme of “Pioneer Days to Modern Ways,” a packed schedule of entertainment and competitions, and a Watsonville fairgrounds packed with food, rides, agricultural displays and vendors.
Santa Cruz County Fair 2024: What you need to know
The 2024 Santa Cruz County Fair will open Wednesday for five days of food, rides, agricultural exhibition and competition and entertainment including a monster truck show, a Taylor Swift tribute band and colorful nightly drone shows.
Metro offers free rides, ticket discounts to Santa Cruz County Fair
The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District will offer free Metro fares and discounted tickets to the Santa Cruz County Fair at the Watsonville Fairgrounds Sept. 11-15.
After a stormy offseason, Zeke Fraser is hustling to get the Santa Cruz County Fair up and running
Less than three months into his tenure as Santa Cruz County Fair CEO, the pressure is on for Zeke Fraser to pull off this year’s version, which runs Sept. 13-17. The longtime local talks about getting up to speed, what’s on tap for this year’s fair and bridging the North County-South County divide.
Santa Cruz County Fair names Zeke Fraser new CEO
Longtime Santa Cruz local Zeke Fraser was named the county fair’s new manager Thursday, replacing Ken Alstott, who was hired in April on an interim basis. Fraser has a background in finance, property management and operations and has most recently been working for the Santa Cruz-based digital publishing company FileOpen Systems.
Santa Cruz County Fair’s interim CEO seeking calmer waters after months of turmoil
Two weeks into his duties as interim CEO, Ken Alstott says things are on track for “a very good fair this year” even after last fall’s firing of longtime CEO Dave Kegebein and the resignation of both Alstott’s immediate predecessor and the chair of the fair’s board of directors. There’s no fixed timeline to name a permanent CEO, though having one in place for this year’s Santa Cruz County fair, set for Sept. 13-17, is a goal.
Amid management turmoil and acting as haven for Pajaro evacuees, county fair turns to another interim director
The debate over Santa Cruz County Fairs present and future continued vociferously Tuesday evening as the fair’s board of directors announced a new interim CEO.
Amid more chaos, Santa Cruz County Fair board meets in closed session
Its leadership void growing and with five months to prepare for the fairgrounds’ big annual event, the Santa Cruz County Fair’s board was set to meet Tuesday evening to consider appointing still more interim leadership.

