San Diego County Fair in Del Mar: What You Need to Know

From oooey-gooey fair food to carnival rides and nights on the grandstand, summer at the San Diego County Fair promises loads of fun at the Del Mar Fairgrounds beginning Wednesday.

Let us guide you to the basics, from admission and parking, to concert highlights and special exhibits to view during the four weeks of the fair.

"Get Out There" – or ¡Explórala! in Spanish – celebrates the great outdoors. As part of the 2023 theme, guests are invited to take part in scavenger hunts, learn about national and state parks and celebrate the mountains, deserts and beaches of the Golden State. They also may earn badges and ribbons playing "Fair Camp" games – for kids of all ages – from arts and crafts to relay races.

The fair starts Wednesday and continues through its traditional July 4 finale.

The fair is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays in June.

The fair is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Purchase fair parking online. Tickets are valid only for the date selected at the point of sale; no refunds or exchanges. Fair parking lots are cashless and only accept credit card payments.

Check out the fair's Tickets & Deals page for admission and parking discounts. For instance, promo codes are available at select stores, including Vons, Albertsons, Northgate Markets, 7-Eleven and O’Reilly Auto Parts. Fridays, Kids Day, those under 12 are admitted free.

Tickets for the concert series are on sale online along with the full list of performers. All grandstand tickets include same-day fair admission. Shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Here's a selection of scheduled acts:

See cover bands doing your faves throughout the fair, with most shows beginning at 8 p.m. Performers salute everyone from Earth, Wind & Fire and Nirvana to Bruce Springsteen and Frank Sinatra. Attendance at these shows is included in the price of fair admission.

The Fair boasts 115 food vendors, nine of them new this year, serving up everything from funnel cakes and gyros to aguas frescas and one pound blocks of cheese.

There's also tastes of classic campfire cuisine, including flame-cooked barbecue and s’mores. But also check out the new Fair-tastic Foods Competition in which some of the fair's most popular vendors compete to out-fair each other.

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What do we mean? Here's some of the finalists in the Wow! and theme categories (fair-tastic indeed):

Various exhibits put ribbon winners from throughout the county on display. A glimpse of the lineup:

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