New fall festival to replace Santa Maria Strawberry Festival this year

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The Santa Maria Fairpark announced a new fall festival on Friday to replace the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival this year.

Many events across the world have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, including the Strawberry Festival.

That event sees over 60,000 people and the Fairpark is hoping the fall festival will see many Strawberry Festival fans.

The fall festival will be held October 23 through 25.

It will have carnival rides, games and lots of food, including the famous Santa Maria strawberry.

The Fairpark hopes to continue this fall festival for years to come. They are also planning on bringing back the strawberry festival next year.

"This is something that we had been tossing around for a little bit, and with the cancellation of the strawberry festival, it became clear that this was go-time," said Shelly Cone, public relations for the Fairpark.

The Fairpark is planning for events beginning in June. They are also planning to move ahead with the Santa Barbara County Fair in July.

They will announce any changes to those events on social media.

They are paying close attention to the coronavirus pandemic guidelines, and will have extra hand washing and sanitizing stations at those events.

With all events cancelled during the pandemic, Cone said the Fairpark hopes that this will be a welcome announcement to the community.

"We wanted to put something out there that everyone could look forward to and that we could look forward to as well," she said.

The fall festival does not have a name yet, but the Fairpark is open to suggestions.