Dramatic transformation in the works for Santa Maria Fairpark, Santa Barbara County Fair

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - Santa Maria Fairpark leadership is announcing a series of sweeping changes that are intended to transform the city's biggest event center into a more modern, functional and successful facility.

"Our board has a vision to move us forward," said Todd Ventura, Santa Maria Fairpark Interim CEO. "We call it Vision 2030, where we want to enhance every aspect of our property."

According to Ventura, over the next several years, the 34-acre state-owned property will undergo a dramatic renovation that remake and refurbish the aging facility basically from top to bottom.

"It starts with rebuilding our infrastructure," said Ventura. "It starts with enhancing the beauty of the campus. It's going to have a very different feel from a guest experience perspective. We want a complete refresh and it's about changing the entire esthetic and feeling of what we're doing here at the Fairpark."

The first significant move in the property-wide renovation is currently taking place in the livestock section where workers are demolishing an old second-story agriculture office that hasn't been usable for many years.

"The Fairpark was largely built in the 50's and 60's and a lot of our buildings date back to then," said Ventura. "Some of them are older and they need to change and so there's some older buildings that, are part of barns that we're taking out to enhance safety, as well as esthetics. We're bringing in some new buildings, a new livestock office, and new program areas that we started developing last year.

Already, the Fairpark has initiated a complete rebranding, with a new set of updated logos and a revamped website.

"We realized they were just done a few years ago, but we didn't really feel like that reflected where we want to go and what we want to be," said Ventura. "We've changed our Fairpark logo. We've changed our Santa Barbara County Fair logo and we've changed the Strawberry Festival logo. They're all a little more whimsical and a little more fun, so that that look is very different."

In addition to the physical changes coming throughout the Fairpark property, the Board is also announcing its two biggest annual events will also experience several changes within their appearance.

In fact, the community was able to experience several new changes this past weekend at the Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival, which ran from Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26.

 "The programing was very different," said Ventura. "The layout was very different. In 20 hours this year, we put through about 32,000 people in the facility. That's an unheard of number. As far as I know, that's the highest record total we've ever had for Strawberry Festival and we did it in 20 hours of open time, so it was amazing."

Ventura added last year's Strawberry Festival drew just 8,000 people during its three-day run, so this year's event quadrupled the attendance in 2025.

Now looking ahead, he said many of the changes that were in place during the Strawberry Festival will also be part of the programming for the upcoming Santa Barbara County Fair, which will experience a number of other enhancements, including a longer run.

For more than 20 years, the fair has been held for the public over a five-day stretch, opening on a Wednesday and ending on Sunday.

This year, the fair will take part over two weekends, starting on Friday, July 3 and running to Sunday, July 5.

The fair will then be closed to the public on Monday, July 6 and Tuesday, July 7, and will re-open again from Wednesday, July 8 through Sunday, July 12.

"We have a very close relationship now with the city management, the Mayor, and Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors," said Ventura. "We're working very collaboratively and very closely. We're trying to plan some big events here. We're not quite ready to make the announcement yet, but we're planning some big events here on on the 4th of July weekend." 

In addition to a longer fair with special events this year, Ventura added the event itself be something fairgoers have not experienced here before.

"The midway will look very different," said Ventura. "The vendor booths will look very different. The layout of the fair is going to look very different than it has in the past. We're going to use different parts of the property that we've ever programed before. We're going to add some programing, particularly in livestock and we're going to do some things differently. We have some new sponsors that are going to program areas that in the past have never been programed before."

The Fairpark Board of Directors is hoping all of the changes will not only boost attendance at the two marquee annual events, but also drive additional ones to the property.

"Our goal is to make it a real community center," said Board President Kevin Merrill. "We want these buildings full all the time and it's a great place for to do it. Whether you're going to have a wedding or a car show or anything like that, we want this to be the first place people think of to come and put those events on, and we want them to be proud of it when they come here, and it really showcases the best of Santa Maria. That's what we're all about right now."

This coming weekend, the Fairpark will host the first ever Santa Maria Comic Con. Later in September, an expanded and upgraded Santa Maria BBQ Festival will take place here, moving from Pioneer Park on the southern edge of the city.

"I think I think when we start to have a larger place for our community, activities can come together," said Fairpark Board Member Kevin Walthers, who is also the President/Superintendent for Allan Hancock College. "That's huge. We try to do that at the college. We try to be a hub, but even in a space our size, it's limited to how much you can get into it, and to look around the Fairpark and see the potential of this place for all kinds of events in the future, I think it's really exciting."

To help finance the many planned changes Ventura said there will be a robust increase in local sponsorship and donations, as well as an aggressive pursuit in acquiring millions of dollars in additional funding sources.

"We are not funded by the state," said Ventura. "We have to find funding in other creative and unique areas. I have been applying for a number of grants and we're reaching out for different kinds of monies in different areas so we can really change things."

While Ventura is currently serving at the CEO, the search for a permanent replacement is still ongoing.

While there remains no timeline for that position to be filled, the Board is optimistic the Santa Maria Fairpark has a very bright future.

"It's exciting to see things that we always had planned starting to come to fruition," said Merrill. "You can see some changes and it's all for the best. We have to thank our board, our interim CEO and the folks at the State are on board with us and our community partners. It's all in an effort to work together to make Santa Maria the best it can be."

For more information about the Santa Maria Fairpark, click here to visit its new and improved official website.