LA County Fair Opens This Weekend: What To Know

POMONA, CA — The 95th Los Angeles County Fair will open its 16-day run Friday, offering a range of rides, games, music, food and other attractions at the Fairplex in Pomona.

Here's everything you need to know:

Tickets, parking and hours

Tickets for fairgoers ages 13-59 purchased in advance online are $10 Friday, and $17 Saturday and Sunday. Tickets for the three Thursdays, May 9, 16 and 23, will be $16. Prices increase throughout the month with $19 May 10-12, $22 May 17-19, and $25 May 24-27.

Tickets for children ages 6-12 and seniors 60 and older purchased in advance online will be $12 throughout the entire run.

On opening day, Friday, the fair will operate from 5 to 11 p.m. For the remainder of its run, Thursday through Sunday and Memorial Day, the fair will be operate from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The fair will be closed Monday through Wednesday, except for its final day May 27.

Parking is $20 in advance online and $25 at the gate. RV parking is $40, located at Yellow Lot Gate 17.

Payment for parking, admission and concert tickets are cashless.

Tickets are available on the fair's website.

Music

The fair's concert series included 12 nights with major artists from across genres. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and include fair admission.

Here's the lineup:

May 3: WAR
May 4: TLC, Ceelo Green and Montell Jordan
May 5: Ramon Ayala
May 10: Nelly, T.I.
May 11: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Berlin
May 12: Chase Rice, Parmalee
May 17: The Ohio Players
May 18: Dustin Lynch, Russell Dickerson
May 19: Banda Machos, Banda Maguey, Mi Banda El Mexicano
May 24: Midland, Stephen Wilson Jr.
May 25: 38 Special, The Outlaws, Molly Hatchet
May 26: Los Tucanes de Tijuana

Additionally, NextFest LA will feature 250 local, emerging artists and DJs playing all four weekends of the fair across five main stages.

Latin entertainment, such as mariachi, banda, cumbia, and norteña music will be presented at Plaza de Las Americas.

Food

The fair's food lineup includes a whopping 1,200 menu items, many of them over-the-top and extraordinary.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Tasti Chips: In its 50th year at the fair, Tasti Chips' new items include hatch green chili cheese chips with habanero bacon jam sauce and creamy white cheddar with hatch green chili cheese sauce with bacon habanero drizzled on top.
• Chicken Charlie's hot honey funnel cake chicken sandwich
• Midway Gourmet's Nashville hot chicken tots; Barbalicious Float (pink bubble gum soda topped with whipped cream, sprinkles and cotton candy)
• Hot Dog on a Stick's sriracha dog
• El Chef's beef barrio rolls and beef barrio pozole
• Sugar Puff Candy's freeze-dried candy, including Milk Duds

Rides

There will be more than 70 rides, 29 games and 20 food concessions in the fair's carnival conducted by Ray Cammack Shows, whose Read to Ride program for school-aged children affords parents the opportunity to scan a QR code and have their children write book reports in exchange for a carnival ride.

Other attractions

Expo Hall 9 will take attendees back to the "good ol' days" of skates, Pac-Man and pinball with Skate-R-Cade. Guests can rollerstake for free, then play arcade games.

The Fairplex Garden Railroad will be celebrating its 100th anniversary, so attendees are encouraged to see the historic model train on display and the special 100 Years of Model Trains "Birthday Cake."

The Flower & Garden Pavillion's "We are LA" will be a tribute to what makes the county the bounty of culture that it is. The exhibition will highlight the "true stars" of the region -- the people that inhabit it and the beauty they create.

The Millard Sheets Art Center will host an exhibition from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art of famed Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo.

Attendees are also encouraged to view the Barnyard Pig Races, Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show, and America's Great Outdoors event featuring reptiles and wild burros, a magic show and learn about the nation's state parks.

Returning this year will be Budweiser Clydesdales.

City News Service contributed to this report.