What’s Going On?

San Mateo was host to the 75th Annual San Mateo County Fair. This year’s theme was “The Peninsula’s Festival”. Located at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, the fair hosted a carnival, arts and crafts exhibits, livestock competitions, pig races, foods galore, stage performances and acts, and premium artists concerts.

Artists that attended this year’s fair include names such as Arrested Development, Shane Dwight, War, Tower of Power, Boyz II Men, The Guess Who, Dia de la Feria Preciosa, and a Pink Floyd Laser Show Spectacular.

I attended the fair on Wednesday and it’s been about a year since I’ve gone back to a county fair. I really enjoyed my time there because I was entertained nonstop. There were about four or so small stages throughout the fairgrounds and each stage had something going on. Most of the stages had guest music bands who performed for us all, playing anything from Country to Rock and Roll.

Several things that I got to see were the pig races, a Chinese acrobatic group, musical performances by local bands, a crazy mascot running all around the fairgrounds, a swine judging competition, amazing artwork, a hypnotist show, and the main stage performance.

Wednesday night’s feature concert on the main stage was Tower of Power. Tower of Power is a lively upbeat funk jazz group that rocks my socks. This band has been around for over 40 years and is still going on strong, yes some of the members are switched out, but who cares? They still pump out great beats and they sure do get the audience riled up.

One thing that I learned through this fair was that the swine judging contest is bittersweet. Children from various ranches tend to pigs, cattle, and other livestock. What I did not know is that these kids help raise these animals from youth till they are full grown. The thing that is bittersweet about the whole situation is that the livestock is judge 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place and so on and after the kids win their awards the livestock is then sold off at auction to meet their inevitable fate. Having known this I asked someone if it’s sad to the kids that raise them and I was told that no they are not saddened. They go into raising them knowing that they will inevitably sold off and used for consumption. For myself, I was a little held back at that, but then again we all do need to eat. For some they see this as animal cruelty, but now knowing how things are it’s just a way of life for some people.

Overall the fair was amazing and I spent hours upon hours enjoying every minute of the fair. A few things that I do regret is walking and standing pretty much the whole day. The other disappointment was that the Tower of Power Concert was filled to capacity, everyone was waiting to get in, but couldn’t. Some people left the concert to do something outside of the building, but although were given a wristband they had no use, admission was still denied. I think in the future the main stage should be built in the parking lot so that more people can attend and enjoy the concerts because that is one of the main reasons to come to the fair and why people purchase tickets. If you still get the chance the California State Fair is still going on till Labor Day so if you want to check out some cool fun take a trip on up to Sacramento.

Click on the picture link above to view pictures of the San Mateo County Fair.