This fair is good for what it is. It is a hometown fair. A local fair. Prices are getting higher for all fairs so this is right in the middle. I was able to get in free for being a senior. Something to look forward to. The rides are free at the 2024 fair. That's hard to beat if you like that. And there are many many rides. Also lot's of food choices...everything you would expect. Mexican food, Burgers, fries, curly fries, did I mention fries? even Crepes sweet or savory. Yum! We have seen many national acts through the years....they are loud! Grand Funk Railroad, The village People, Tower of Power, the Charlie Daniels band, local group WonderBread 5 and many more. it's all included for one Price unless you want to pay more to stand/dance directly in front of the band. read more

On Sunday my boyfriend and I decided to participate in this fun social distanced event, Sonoma-Marin Fair's Drive-Thru Fair Food! We ordered our food and drinks, paid and drove up to each one of Big Jim's Concession Stands, Smokehouse, Thirsty Fry and Super Pups. We received our orders and drove off to eat in our car. I'll review what I ordered below! Giant Turkey Leg~ One of the best Turkey legs I've ever had, it was both meaty and delicious! Order this and thank me later! Pork Rib Order~ The ribs were fall off the bone and very meaty, but the bbq sauce itself was pretty sweet for my taste. Giant Curly Fries with Chili, Bacon, Cheese, Jalapeño and Garlic~ These delicious shoestring fries taste like potato chips, they were both salty and savory! Definitely the largest box of fries I've ever laid my eyes on, I may have been a bit zealous with the toppings tho, it was garlicky and spicy. Strawberry Lemonade~ It was the best I have ever had in my entire life, it wasn't too sweet, very delicious and refreshing! Order this and thank me later, you'll be glad you did! I would recommend this fun fair food event, next dates are May 14-16 from 12:00 PM-8:00 PM! Support small and local, especially now when they need our business the most! We will definitely be back! read more

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Found an ad online for a special event called "Drive Thru Fair Food", where people order from a cashier and then different food runners will come up to your car with your ordered food, similar concept to Sonic, but with Fair style food. My girlfriend and I ordered strawberry lemonade, watermelon slushy, giant curly fries with bacon, jalapeños, cheese, garlic, and chili, giant turkey leg, and an order of pork ribs (4-5 ribs). Drinks: ***** (best strawberry lemonade ever) Giant curly fries: **** (shoestring style curly fries, and it was HUGE) Giant turkey leg: ***** (best turkey leg ever) Ribs: **** (ribs were good but the sauce wasn't all that) Staff & Service: ***** (staff was nice when we asked a bunch of questions) 23 out of 25 stars, or 92%, earning 5 star rating from me. Since they are doing this event every weekend, we might come back to try other fair foods. read more

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So I just love fairs!! This is the smallest one I have ever been too-very home spun All American! I heard from several of the carnies that unless something changes this year will be their last read more

Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Petaluma, California

Review of the Sonoma Marine County Fair. When it comes to bringing small children to a county fair the family friendly aspect of this one is great. Offered reasonable ticket prices that included many of the smaller rides that the granddaughter loved and we did not need to keep purchasing ride tickets. The animal section had a petting area that had a beautiful variety of critters to be petted and fed. We got to see the judging area and learn just how hard the 4 H participants work to be able to take home a ribbon. As we walked through the pens the students loved interacting and sharing about their show animals from sheep to pigs to cows. They really take a lot of pride in their work and it shows greatly. We were treated to Cloe s icecream as they were one of the sponsors. One of our family members ended up adapting a cat that the Human Society was featuring. Looking forward to next years fair. read more

Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Petaluma, California

County fairs are summer events. It was nice when they stretched out over the summer. Ever sense the state fair dates changed from September to July all the local fairs come at the same time. So now a favorite summer pastime, since I was a teen, is condensed in to just a few weeks. This fair is famous for the Ugliest Dog in the Word contest. I have not seen the contest in person; it does get a lot of media coverage. I am thinking about going back and fight the crowds to get a front row seat. This is not on my normal fair route; we went this year for a Tower of Power concert. They are old friends of S; he gets passes and goes to see them when they are in town. I like to go to the fairs to see the art and other exhibits: pigs, cows, bunnies, pies cakes, hobby collections, needlework, and whatever else people enter. I could spend hours just looking around. Of course there are the midway rides and games and at this fair--the rides are included with the admission. I no longer want to ride them; however, the lights are a great subject for my new photo project, out of focus. There doesn't seem to be as many exhibits to explore. There is a lot of fair food to eat, and rides to enjoy. The fairground isn't too large so it easy to see everything. Marin-Sonoma is not my favorite fair; Alameda County will always be first place. That said, I will be back next year. read more

What can you say about the fair...? It's a fair. Parking was a little chaotic, teenagers sitting on chairs not really knowing how to direct the flow of traffic, but we met a lovely lady who allowed us to park right beside the front door entry. Food is fair food. Expensive, greasy, and severely overpriced. Rides to the left, merchandise to the right. We stayed to the right. Surprisingly, there weren't as many vendors this year as we anticipated- although we did end up spending good money on good products. We smacked on the lobster fries... great idea. We'll likely try to make them at home sometime. :) We happened to hit on a nice cool day, although we heard the day prior was super hot, with barely anywhere to cool off. Maybe we'll stick to the fair in Santa Rosa.... the Petaluma fair just wasn't worth the $20/person, or the long waiting time on the freeway. read more

My bf & I made our 2nd trip to the 12th Annual Great Petaluma Chili Cook-off this past Saturday (5/9/09), which also feature Salsa & Beer Tasting =) Held @ the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds & simply a great social outdoor thing to do for locals & non-locals, like ourselves, on a beautiful Spring weekend! http://www.cinnabartheater.org/chili/ Admission (cash or credit) is $25 to sample the competitor's meat/veggie chili & salsa, while $35 to sample competitor's meat/veggie chili, salsa, & beer/wine..pay the $35, you get a lil mini keepsake glass that you'll use to sample the beers/wines; glass is about 5" tall & 2.5" in width. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=zBT8l6b3wE_H541Msvg4Wg Upon admission purchase, you're given cards to submit your votes as you make ur rounds: (1) meat-chili card vote, (2) veggie-chili card vote, (3) salsa card vote, and/or not (4) beer card vote. All competitors have lil buckets on their table for folks to drop off their card vote http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=8anAHhqncGOQLbjTAiaPTA ...common if u drop ur vote for a given competitor, they make some crazy loud-ass noise (sometimes good to brace urself) to not only say thank you, but to tell other competitors "haha, we got a public vote!" Chili & Salsa competitors hold down their camp inside the Herzog Hall http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=YWeXQ_S_vCAC8g6b_GdZBA , where they send off their samples to the actual judges & promote their chili/salsa to the public w/ sample mini-cups & spoons for tasting on the go. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=CVsb_0Khrrvh3vedauzTyQ Competitors are encouraged to have a theme, & some competitors really go allllll out w/ the theatricals for costume & decoration, which is really cool. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=6nbOX1PiMkE5049XhSpFmQ In the 2yrs we've seen: Hillbilly Chili (think we ate squirrel, who knows), PeeWee's Playhouse Chili, Nuclear Chili, Playgirl Chili Next Door Chili, Lucha Libra Chili, Krazy Kelts Salsa http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=3KEZwNpQf8Y_2b4Zgq8f-A , & crazy others! Beer/Wine competitors hold it down in Behren's Park (Herzog Hall's backyard as far as I'm concerned) under a shady area for the public. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=6vI1A9KFUbrbJKG6RMRxgQ In Behren's Park there are tables & benches to sit/chill/relax, & typically a stage is created for music entertainment http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=Y3svdJAbFExIBFD5kwyX9g & space out back for dancing entertainment http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/6wDrbM3yx6bGLwBBhBasNg?select=1ShoVYmKse95bZ63z-Cw5A . Oh, their bathroom facility in both Herzog Hall & Behren's Park is simple, clean, & spacious (thank goodness). Suggestions if u go next year: 1) bring ur own bottle water (maybe even freeze it the night b4) 2) bring ur own hand towel (in case the weather is too hot or after tasting 5 diff chili, u have sumthin' to wipe ur brow) 3) ladies better to bring wristlet/swingpack/grannypack/backpack...hobo purse might be in ur way a bit 4) shades & hats kewl, & so are sandals...cookoff isn't ridiculously large, but comfy shoes like flip flops are welcome Last year was hotter, & it seemed ALL competitor's were overboard w/ their theme & spirit vs this year...not too many overboard theatrics, but still quite enjoyable & our tastebuds were satisfied. The general public have always been friendly...guess 'cuz we're all up for enjoyin' a beautiful Spring day w/ tastin' some chili, salsa, & beer =D read more

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I give the Sonoma-Marin Fair an F for website, social media and office, but an A for the value the fair offers. I practically peed my pants with excitement when I discovered The Beach Boys were doing a couple of Bay Area county fairs. My glee continued when I saw that this particular fair included all rides with the price of $15 admission. I had never heard of a fair not using rides to price gouge visitors. But when I needed questions answered: What kind of concert set-up? Can I bring food and drink in? Can I carry a backpack? How much is parking? None of the answers were found on the website, answered through social media inquiries or at the office, since no one would ever answer the phone during business hours. So if you're curious like I was: The concert area is a big open space with small side section of bleachers. You can bring camping chairs, blankets or just stand up front. If you have camping chairs, you may only be allowed to use them in designated areas outside of the standing space or have to fold them up once the concert starts. You can bring food and drink in and carry a bag, just no alcohol or glass bottles, obviously. ETA: My husband and I took a couple trips back to the car, so we were entered the fair three different times and each time, security was only checking for weapons, glass bottles and alcohol. Lots of people carried in water bottles. Parking was $5. We arrived close to 5 p.m. on a Thursday and were able to park near one of the entrances. We had no problem getting out of the parking lot just after 11 p.m. closing. The rides are fair staples: The Viper, The Zipper, Drop Zone, Tilt-a-Whirl, ferris wheel, slides, the crappiest of all crappy funhouses, a haunted house that was out of order, and a lot of rides that spin you in circles. Lines for the rides were short during the day and long after The Beach Boys ended at 9:30. The fair includes lots of farm animals, some exotic/wildlife animals, a small art exhibit room and small wine garden. I can't comment on game or food prices. I just assumed they were expensive and didn't bother. There's a Jack in the Box directly across the street for a cheap meal. As for the most important aspect of all, The Beach Boys were amazing and from where I was standing up front, the sound was great. I did have to stop myself from telling off the self-absorbed drunk girls who pushed their way up front to make a spectacle of themselves. Their wannabe Paris and Nicole schtick was not cute. Otherwise, the crowd was mostly cool and no one smoked near the stage. read more

Parking is the Worst ever!!! Handicap parking with a wheelchair directed to the Field! Parked, and then had to push a wheelchair through the grassy carnival. Not good. Then no one was there to direct outgoing traffic sat in gridlock for at least a he. All four of us disabled !! Not good!! Very disappointed!!! read more

Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds - Beach boys - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Petaluma, California

Buy the ticket online, it's $3 cheaper for an adult ticket :) Regular price is $15. Parking is $5, but I found free parking nearby and walked LOL. It's not a huge fair, but I like the intimate setting. The rides are free with admission which is AWESOME! However, the lines get really long later in the day. Games with prizes cost money. Came here to see World's Ugliest Dog contest :D read more

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15 bucks for admission (10 for kids) and you can ride all the rides for free. Don't be fooled by the coupons per rides signs. The county fair rocks. Come see animals and ride rides. The food is fine and as expensive as expected at a fair. They also sail local beers. A great experience. read more

Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Petaluma, California

Nice little fair. Price includes carnival and music too. If you have kids or love carnival rides yourself, it is a great way to keep the costs down. Wine tasting and chef talks are interesting. read more

went there with my friend on Opening day last month, and I have to say except for the rides being enjoyable and fun and the lines being short, the rest of the day was pretty displeasing I don't know if it was because it was the first day but a lot of the rides were not even working so we missed out on a few of them. Also the ride "Rover" was a bit too rough, it might just my body isn't use to these rides, but when i got off the ride, my shoulders were instantly in pain and bruised. but the worse part was the food, I know fair food is expensive but I expect it to be at least edible. I got a corn dog there (not sure the name of the booth, but it was the one serving Monster corn dogs) this corn dog was not very good, and made me a bit sick later. Hot dog on a stick makes better corn dogs. My friend bought garlic fries (once again not sure where since nearly everyone was selling them) and the fries cost her $5, they were soggy, and even though they were covered in garlic and parsley they had no flavor. The only good thing was the lemonade, the price was $4 for a small glass but it was very good. My last complaint was there were no water fountains in sight, it was a very hot day and I was pretty dehydrated as I am sure many more people were too, with water bottles being $2.50 a bottle for a normal size I couldn't afford it, thankfully my friend could. You can bet I guzzled that thing down. We later found a water fountain near the livestock but it was still a bit away from the rides. I saw a review on here stating they let her bring food and drinks in, I am not sure if the person who checked her was extra nice or something but my mom went to the fair the day after I did and they wouldn't' let her bring her water in. The Sonoma fairgrounds have many more rides but then again you have to pay to go on those rides, so in all figuring it cost only $10 to go in on opening day, we definitely got our money's worth but if you want to eat there, just leave the fairgrounds and go to somewhere else. read more

Some pretty happening chili here in 2010. I tried all of them, some once, some twice, some thrice. Some great pulled pork chili's, mild, very hot, beanie ones and plenty in between. I was seriously sweating after the 5th sample and didn't stop for about an hour. I was all focused on the chili and didn't mess with the salsa or beer. I just didn't have room for all three. I was so full I could barely make it to all the booths, I thought they might have to roll me out of there. And resampling was a challenge, but you had to retry the ones you liked. The Beer (which is $10.00 more) was outside along with live band entertainment. There was definitely more people outside drinking and hanging out then inside gobbling down chili. Totally worth it for the great chilis here. read more

Best time I've had at the fair in forever!!. Pretty small but a lot to do with the fam bam

spent there every day at the fair if I'm around next year I would be back to stroll around drunk and eat the very unhealthy food they have!! a lot of cool stuff there and fun vibes!! read more

Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Petaluma, California

If your thinking of renting one of their halls for a party. STOP!!!! I just rented their Hertzog Hall and was never told I could not turn off the lights. I was only allowed to turn off half. Which still left the hall super bright. There really was no point in getting a DJ for my daughters quinceañera that had lights for the dance floor. We couldn't even see them it was so bright inside. Let alone all the lanterns I placed around the hall. With lights inside. Cause you couldn't see them!!! And when we asked security to call a person in charge of the hall to clear getting the lights turned off they said "no, it's in the contract" and "it's their policy". Well we looked at our contract and no it's not in there!!!! And when we complained about it the following business day. They told us "well you didn't ask". REALLY!!! I am having a party, a big party!!! And I should have asked if I can turn off the lights? What a bunch of idiots!!! They'll take your money to rent the hall and then the day of your event they have all these surprises for you. No worth it!! Not at all. You don't need these kind of surprises on the day of your event. read more