Frequency Annually Location Indio | Attendance 300,000+ (2012) Genres Agricultural show, Fair | |
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Date(s) 9 days (mid-to-late February) Inaugurated 1921 (1921) (at Indio City Park) Organised by Riverside County Economic Development Agency Years active 68 (at Riverside County Fairgrounds) | ||
Riverside county fair and national date festival
The Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival takes place in Indio, California. Since 1947 the annual festival has been held to celebrate the Date Palm harvest in the Coachella Valley. The event is held in February on the Riverside County Fairgrounds.
Contents
The Coachella Valley has about 250,000 date palms planted on approximately 5,000 acres (20 km2) which produces 35,000,000 pounds of dates annually. The agricultural industry is responsible for 95 percent of the nation's crop.
The Date Festival has more than 7000 exhibits and competitions related to the fruit. It has grown to feature musicians and comedians, a Date Festival Queen and her court, monster trucks and bull-riding. The Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival is located in Indio, California, a city in the Colorado Desert, approximately 130 miles (210 km) east from Los Angeles.
History
The Fair started as a festival to celebrate the end of the annual date harvest in the desert region, the major commercial date-producing area in the Western Hemisphere. Dates were an unknown commodity in the desert until 1903 when date palms were transplanted there from Algeria. By the early 1920s dates became a major crop for the area. Date groves in the Coachella Valley also became tourist attractions.
With the popularity of the date gardens the idea was planted for the first Date Festival in 1921 to be held in Indio's city park. A second festival was held the following year. Some 16 years later a third Date Festival was held, this time under the name of the Riverside County Fair and the Coachella Valley Date Festival. The Indio Civic Club, under contract from the County Board of Supervisors, sponsored the event.
That year there were 72 booths exhibited and attendance reached 5,000. It was also the first year the street parade was staged. In 1936 Western themes were in style and the Fair took on a Western theme complete with wiskerenos, cowboy hats, and rodeo events.
In 1940 the County purchased the present fairgrounds. The original 40 acres (160,000 m2) cost $10,000 and over the years later the grounds were expanded with the purchase of an additional 40 acres (160,000 m2) including the date grove on the fairgrounds. Presently, the fairgrounds cover 120 acres (0.49 km2).
When World War II started all fairs in California were halted. When the War ended, Robert M.C. Fullenwider was hired to manage the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival. Fullenwider introduced an "Arabian Nights" theme tying in with the desert region and date industry.
Pageant
Also, tying into this theme, the Fair has a scholarship pageant called "Queen Scheherazade". Students from Riverside County compete to win the scholarship money for continued education and act as the "good will" ambassador over the Fair.