Origin A group of local businessmen, growers and ranchers formed an organization called the "Fresno Fair Grounds Association" in February 1883. The original directors were Dr. Lewis Leach, M. I. Donahou, Frederick A. Woodworth, A. B. Butler and T. M. Hughes. The association sold stock to raise funds and with those funds, bought a tract of land from
Thomas E. Hughes & Sons and began construction of a horse racetrack. Following official admission to the National Trotting Association, the first races occurred in May 1884 and the new track was assessed to be in "first-class order" by a writer from the Sacramento Bee. The first Fresno Fair opened in October 1884 and featured a five-day race horse meet, a few produce displays and several head of livestock. The fairgrounds only consisted of a racetrack until 1888, when a grandstand and a pavilion were completed a few weeks before the fair opened. A collective of local banks, churches, merchants associations and the chamber of commerce signed a petition asking for fairgrounds improvements and broke through the county's reluctance to spend. Historian Donald Marti credits the Big Fresno Fair for popularizing intentional train wrecks as a fair event spectacle across the US, an idea of Eberhart's. The first Fresno intentional train wreck was in 1919 and was attended by 35,000 people. In 1919, both the Fresno District Fair organization and the California Raisin Association (the organizer of a popular annual spring festival) were disbanded as the result of a lawsuit and both groups were taken over by the Fresno Chamber of Commerce. In 1920, the Chamber made an agreement with Prince Speedway Construction Company, based in Los Angeles, to build an automobile track at the fairgrounds and to conduct two race per year there for a period of ten years in exchange for $50,000 and the majority of the earnings from the races. These facilities were intended to confine
Japanese Americans until more permanent internment camps could be built in isolated areas of the country, such as
Manzanar and
Tule Lake in California. Beginning on March 30, 1942, all native-born Americans and long-time legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California were ordered to surrender themselves for detention. 5,344 Japanese Americans from Fresno and the surrounding area passed through the Fresno Assembly Center before being transferred to the
Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas and
Gila River, Arizona.
California Historical Landmark #934 is a memorial dedicated to the more than 5,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry who were confined at the fairgrounds from May to October 1942. The marker is part of an expanded Fresno Assembly Center Memorial that lists in bronze the names of all who were incarcerated there with photos and personal commentaries by former Valley internees and their families. Banners highlighting photos from the era also educate visitors about the historical significance of the site. When the Assembly Center closed, the fairgrounds became the
Fresno Army Air Forces Training Center home of the
Army Air Forces Basic Training Center No. 8. This was the
United States Army Air Forces Fourth Air Force's non-flying training facility. At is peak it covered 300 acres for orientation and initial training of new forces. The Training Center closed on February 13, 1946.
State management In 1948, the fair was reborn under the leadership of Tom Dodge and the State's 21st District Agricultural Association, A grandstand addition, as well as an expansion of the Paul Paul Theater, was completed in time for 1979 fair opening. A lawsuit between a Fresno artist and the fair was filed after the 2015 fair barred his painting, depicting a confederate flag, from being displayed. The fair allowed the painting to be displayed at the 2016 fair and the state settled the lawsuit in the artist's favor. Cell phone video of a brawl at the 2015 fair went viral on social media and led to increased police presence at future fairs. Fair patrollers include security guards, the
Fresno Police and
Fresno County Sheriff's Office. Attendance for the 2019 fair was 632,590. A virtual fair occurred in 2020 as the
COVID-19 pandemic cancelled all live events & rides. A "drive through" fair was also offered. ==Facilities==