Monterey Fairgrounds

Like attending events here but don’t appreciate the keep the restrooms clean sign in all bathrooms in Spanish only, like only Spanish speakers use the bathrooms.

This is a review of the County Fair.
We were in the area on 9÷7÷15 when we learned that this fair was taking place. The LA County Fair being a yearly tradition for us, we decided we were going to do the Monterey County Fair, we were super excited.
However, as soon as we walked onto the grounds, the sense of disappointment slowly began crawling all over us, this being an understatement. I suppose when you know nothing better, you have nothing else to compare to, anything will suffice. This «county fair» is truly more like a common street fair, and I’ve actually seen better street fairs in smaller less developed countries, compared to this «county fair.» It lacked everything that makes a county fair a FAIR. No variety in the food options, options limited to fries, bbq, popcorn, cinnamon buns, funnel cake, corn, sad looking candy apples, cotton candy and the worst lemonade we’ve ever had. My bf is not a picky eater, at all, and he described the lemonade here as «nausea inducing.» Rides are also minimal and the size of the fairgrounds are a joke, so small it took us 20 minutes to walk the entire fair and that’s because we walked it real slow, could have easily done it all in 10 minutes, (and this for a $ 10 entrance fee.) $ 10 for a street fair? Highway robbery! I’m glad we didn’t pay the $ 20 parking fee and instead opted to pay the $ 5 away from the grounds and get the free shuttle and even then, for this sad fair $ 5 is a lot.
The Orange County Fair is 3x’s bigger than this fair and their early bird special is only $ 3 and the selection of food, rides and shopping is way better.
Overall, I would rate this a ZERO, but Unilocal requires minimum of 1 star.

Had a great time at the fair grounds! We live in seaside so we know the parking is very limited even if we come a little early. So we parked in the CVS parking lot for $ 15…Nothing new.
Food was good… had a tri tip sandwich, garlic fries, fresh squeezed lemonade so good my daughter loved it. Oh and the cinnamon sugar Apple funnel cake was amazing!
My daughter loved petting, looking at the animals and the pony ride was a plus. Just looking at my daughter’s face so excited enjoying the rides and games was priceless. Will go again next year for sure!

My family planned to go to the fair today. We were really looking forward to it. We got there 10 minutes before 11 am when the fair supposedly opens to the public and there were no parking available except for in a dirt lot where a guy was charging $ 20 per car!!! WTF?!? This fairgrounds has very limited parking and that in itself is a total disappointment. At 11 am the fair was already packed with people, how could that be?!? If we parked in the nearby residential area, there would have been a 1 hour limit. That really sucks, to say the least!!! Well, I will probably miss this fair for 2015, but then the fair in Santa Cruz is far better anyhow.
Pros:
–local artists present their goods for sale and display
–fun to look at the farm animals and livestock
Cons:
–parking is crazy here as it is extremely limited
–small fair in comparison to the one in Santa Cruz and many others
Suggestion: As there is limited space at the location the fairground is now, it would be much better to move the fairgrounds to another location like in Seaside on the land that use to be the Fort Ord base. There is plenty space there to build a more spacious fairgrounds that could have a better parking layout then it has now.

I recently planned and coordinated a wedding for a couple who used the Monterey Fairgrounds as their venue. We used the Turf Club. The best thing about the Turf Club is that it’s like renting out your own restuarant, but with a much smaller fee. It’s a great option for a budget friendly wedding. You get a bar, kitchen, restrooms, the main dining area and a patio all to yourself!
Allison at the Fairgrounds office was a huge help with all of my questions and requests along the way. We had a bar tender and drinks provided at a reasonable cost and there were even security personnel provided. You never know what could happen at an event so it added peace of mind to know they were there. The layout of the Turf Club made it easy to hide unsightly things in the kitchen and to provide a nice buffet. You have two doors in and out of the kitchen so things can be going on in the background with easy access and your guests won’t be distracted. We were even able to use bistro lighting that was over the patio for a different event. Allison made sure we’d be able to turn it on for our event! Another plus was being able to pull the car right up to the entrance for unloading and reloading décor and food, etc. And since it’s set up like a restuarant the space doesn’t need a lot of décor to look good.
Only one con: parking isn’t ideal. That being said I didn’t hear anyone complain about it. And I’ve seen worse for a wedding venue.

Wonderful venue for the Artichoke Festival and all the other activities that are held here. Thank you for the produce!

artichoke festival! beer, wine and artichokes in every which way… yummm!
live music, great company and all kinds of yummy recipes for an artichoke. great weekend

Basically a parking lot that you park your rig on. Outside of that it is a small RV park and the folks that are currently managing it are friendly. It was a great location for the Monterey, Pebble Beach, Sea Side and Carmel points of interest. The park is gated at night and it is a cozy place on the fair ground property.

I hope they bring back reggae fest. They have great event’s here cali roots beer festivals and the fair I try to go every year but work

My dad lives in the bay and whenever I visit him I look for fun stuff to do. Last time I went to visit, my sister and I were headed to the aquarium, and for some reason we ended up in the Monterey County fair lol. Entrance fee was $ 9, parking was a little tough. We had to park about two blocks away –_​– It all payed off once we were inside. LA county fair has nothing on the bay. There were a lot of things to do, try, eat, buy. I had a blast! Beer tasting, wine tasting, and endless food!!! I don’t think my sister had fun. She’s preggo so no drinking for her! buahahaha.

This is regards to their concession stand for the Monterey Jazz Festival… Clerks should be handling one customer one transaction at a time. I mean unless you’re equipped with with necessary register/​computer. They literally had a box with cash, could not keep up with inventory and a long ass line. The credit card machine forget about it! We were standing there for at least 30 minutes trying to buy 2 drinks and they could not figure out if my credit card went through. Not sure where the concession manager was but that’s not acceptable business.

Pretty clean, lots of dirt in the rodeo section but the grassy areas are good for sitting with or without a blanket. Decent stages, decent food choices (but not the best food), plenty of bathrooms, water area, cell phone charging station, etc. Seemed family friendly and clean.

Monterey County Fairgrounds has been the home of California Roots Music & Arts Festival for 5 years and the reason for my visit here.
This is a great venue with plenty of options for food and drinks. They also had many food trucks here. I tried a couple different things during the 3-​day event including catfish with fries, carne asada quesadilla, hamburger with fries, and some cherry lemonade.
The restrooms were surprisingly clean which is a plus. By the way they painted over those clowns in the restrooms (Clowns are scary)! Also, they had plenty of porta-​potties for use, with hand washing stations.
Parking was a pain, but if you get there early enough you could find a street parking. My advice is get there early. If not there are plenty of places that will charge you an arm and a leg for parking, I saw one small lot directly across the street from the fairgrounds that was charging $ 50…OUCH! No thanks I would much rather walk.
All in all this was a good venue and I had a great weekend of fun.

I came here for the First City Festival, a new music festival this year, and was happily surprised by the facilities.
We found parking to be kind of difficult the first day, but that’s because we came later in the day. Parking tips: the closest neighborhood has parking only for residents, so skip that. If you get there early you can snag a spot right outside the gates, otherwise be prepared to wak a bit. Day 2 we had no trouble finding a spot in the morning and parked on the major street right near by the fest. If you cross the major parallel street from the fairgrounds, you can find parking in the neighborhood.
There’s plenty of bathrooms which was a nice surprise for a music festival. They were clean with ample toilet paper, soap, and paper towels; it was amazing! The bathrooms are elaborately painted with lots of giant clowns; my friend even snapped a pic inside. It’s creepy if you’re not into clowns, like the teenager in front of me in line.
It was kinda dark in some areas at night, so the grounds could use some lighting, but it didn’t bother us.
There were a lot of nice grassy areas, some picnic tables, but I didnt care for the rodeo setup with a dirt floor for the major stage. It was cool there was some seating, and some covered space, but the dirt floor kicked up a lot of dust, and on a hot day, it just wasn’t ideal. Came nighttime, when we realized the covered standing room/​bleacher areas along the outside were better, it wasn’t as much of a problem. I think this only matters since it was music festival; it’s obviously an ideal spot in the fairground for a rodeo or livestock auction.

I try to always come to the Monterey County Fair every year because its the nicest fair ground area. They have plenty of restrooms and they are always nice and clean (a big plus for us ladies!!). There are plenty of areas to sit and lots of shade provided either by trees or umbrellas. Workers keep up and keep it clean during the fair so it always looks nice (no overflowing trash cans, stuff on the floor etc). I’ve been during the day and night and I’ve always had the impression of a safe environment. Parking is a bit of a pain but I always park on a side street of Fremont and walk so it’s no biggie.

it really, really depends on what activity you are there to enjoy as to the quality of the Monterey Fairgrounds. the bathrooms are clean — painted with clowns… Good thing I usually go for DAY events or the I might have been seen rocking in the corner… «cant sleep, the clowns will eat mii. cant sleep, the clowns will eat mii…»
anyway… the parking is always an issue. the fairgrounds are right off the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 68. it near the airport, just off Fremont Blvd. don’t try and park in one of the nearby business parking lots while their businesses are open. you’d be taking a huge risk of tow. as long as you’re prepared to park at a distance and just walk to the entrances, its not so tough. $ 10 paid parking is an option somewhere close by. I’ve never even bothered to check it out.
There are typically more than one open gates, depending on the event.
For the new Wine Fest, Gates 3 & 5 were open. we had problems with our pre-​ordered tickets. errors of the event operators. I’ve also been here for Highland Games, to see The Platters, among others with ~0~ gate problems. The fairgrounds are decently maintained. No major hazards anywhere-​usually. usually.
At the Wine Fest July 27,2013, several workers were digging trenches (like Coffin-​Sized holes) and repairing plumbing or sprinklers. It was really weird. but I guess its better to fix it and push forward rather than cancel an event. I’ve just never seen a man with his arm shoulder deep in a puddle in the grounds where people are wandering, drinking mass quantities of wine. They did put up some cones and caution tape — -yet still leaving gaping trenches after the workers left. ?
The weather has chances of being great or foggy and freezing. bring layers jic the clouds &/​or fog do try to spoil the 4p and later hours.

I have been to the fair grounds for various events over the years. It is a great venue, it has a lot of bathrooms, which is awesome if you are at an event like beerfest…

The Fairgrounds is a great spot, at least depending on what event for which you are there. I’ve been there for the Jazz Festival, the County Fair, the (very new) tattoo expo, and much more. Sometimes the security is a pain, sometimes it’s disorganized, but overall it’s a perfect spot for events and concerts and the like.
One big tip: the ATM inside charges at LEAST $ 5 to withdraw cash, so come prepared or be prepared to spend a lot.

I’ve only gone here for the county fair. The fairgrounds are nice, though there isn’t much parking around (at least not that I’ve seen. I live close to the fairgrounds and can walk to it). The fair itself is small, but cutesy small. Also because it’s small, it gets VERY crowded, especially around the rides area. Ah, well. It’s only $ 9 admission.
REVIEW FOR COUNTY FAIR (since that listing seems to be gone):
The county fair is, like the fairgrounds, very small. It’s still got that small town charm to it and is actually quite fun. The rides are okay, but not worth the $ 28 unlimited ride wristband unless you plan on going on a LOT of rides. The food is food you will see at pretty much any other fair, but there are a lot of choices and a good amount of ethnic food. Just like any fair, you can get several uniquely «American» foods. During this year’s fair, I had a mac-​and-​cheese-​stuffed bacon cheeseburger! There is also the fried Oreos and whatnot. The funnel cakes and gelato (check out Colossal Gelato!) are not to miss. The food is not cheap, which is pretty typical for fair food. There are a few places that take credit cards, though most places take cash only. When I went to this years fair, the ticket booths were cash only.
Parking is pretty much nonexistent unless you want to park over by MPC or pay a lot of money (about $ 15-​$ 25) to park in a lot nearby. There are also a fair number of smokers, so be aware of that if you’re sensitive to tobacco smoke.
The fair is considerably less crowded during the evening, though there are a fair number of people who have had too much to drink, and on the last day of the fair.

Parking stinks, so if you can carpool, walk, ride your bike or take the bus, you will be happier. Beyond that, the potties are clean and it is well kept. It is not like other fairgrounds I am used to going to and I like the place.
I have been here for a couple events now and I have not been disappointed. There are lots of trees and nice grassy spots to park yourself.
We went for the food truck festival, most recently, and it was a nice experience. I will definitely attend events here is the future.
We went to a cash only event, but there are ATMs on property, so you are not high and dry if you need cash.