San Diego County Fair: What to know about Summer Pet-tacular 2025
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Some county fairs may be bigger, but how often do they look like this? Photo: Courtesy of San Diego County Fair
Wednesday is opening day at the San Diego County Fair, kicking off a 20-day run for an event that last year brought nearly 900,000 people to the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Why it matters: The San Diego County Fair is perhaps the county's longest-running tradition — in its first year in 1880, the county's population was less than 5,000.
State of play: This year's theme is Summer Pet-tacular, which does not mean pets are allowed at the event.
- Pet-themed entertainment includes a pooch fun run (real pets allowed) on July 4, a pet pavilion with rescue groups represented daily, and a lineup of contests including a costume competition where attendees dress up as pets.
Driving the news: The fair is closed Mondays and Tuesdays as usual, leaving the traffic backups on I-5 by Del Mar relegated to Wednesday through Sunday.
- Plan ahead: Parking is $20 on site, or $16 in advance, but parking at Canyon Crest Academy is free, with a nonstop shuttle to the event.
- A Fair Tripper ticket gets you regular-priced admission with a free round-trip transit fare to the Solana Beach Coaster station, and a free shuttle from there to the fairgrounds.
Between the lines: Save $9 on fair admission with any $10 purchase at Albertsons, Vons or Pavilions.
- Kids under 12 are free on Fridays (kids under five are always free).
- $55 gets unlimited rides on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11am to 8pm in the Kids Zone and Fun Zone.
- That's a good deal if you work out the math: $50 gets 40 BlastPass ride credits, and rides cost between 6-10 credits each. Kid wants to do a big ride, but can't do it alone? That's 20 credits at once.
The latest: The fair's concert lineup this year is highlighted by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (June 26), 2 Chainz and Lil John (June 20), Zedd (June 14) and more.
- Live and Collective Soul, Foreigner and Maxwell kick off the series this week.
- Concert tickets double as fair admission.
What we're watching: Over 100 food vendors are on board for 2025, offering all the deep-fried-whatever delicacies the fair is known for.
- 44 of them are offering a meal, side and drink for $15.