Santa Maria Fairpark unveils new logos, announces major changes to signature events

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – The Santa Maria Fairpark has unveiled a set of new logos, including for the facility itself, as well as for its two biggest annual events, the Santa Barbara County Fair and Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival.

The branding change begins the first phase of an effort that will include the revamping and freshening up of the Fairpark grounds and events.

"We're really excited," said Casey Douglass, Santa Maria Fairpark Sponsorship Coordinator/Public Relations. We are getting a fresh new look and putting our best foot forward, just kind of a refresh and a reset. and a reminder that we encompass the entire 37th District Agricultural Association, which goes at down as far as Gaviota and up as far north as Arroyo Grande. We really want to kind of just refresh in 2024 and just bring out the best for our entire community." 

In a release, the Fairpark described its new logo as an image that highlights the flags that the community has grown to love during the event season and includes Events, Fairs, and Festivals as a focal point.

The new Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival logo includes a new stylized strawberry image, while the new Santa Barbara County Fair logo is designed with sunset colors, carnival rides and a livestock barn symbolizing summer nights at the Fair.

"We wanted to design fresh new logos that represent the entire 37^th District Agricultural Association while highlighting that we hold Events, Fairs, and Festivals!," said Caitlin Miller, Santa Maria Fairpark CEO.

According to the Fairpark, the Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival will be enhanced by adding more strawberry themed foods, products, and new entertainment.

The Fairpark also said it will soon be unveil a fresh innovative layout of the grounds including new and revised attractions for what will be a larger in size Santa Barbara County Fair.

"We are expanding the fair footprint by 40%," said Ellowyn Isaacson, Santa Maria Fairpark Event Coordinator "That is super exciting. It is a huge reason why you should plan on attending the fair and we're going to be offering more surprises along the way over the next few months." 

Issacson pointed out the revamped layout will feature some dramatic changes, such as a complete flip-flopping of the two carnival sections.

The adult carnival, which has been located near the front entrance, will move to the back of the property, close to the livestock section and adjacent to the main grandstand, while the children's carnival will move to the front.

In addition, many of the vendors, food booths and other entertainment attractions will also have new locations this year.

"On front lawn, we're going to have the tons of family entertainment that's going to include barnyard racers, pony rides, family friend, friendly vendors, local vendors, and then another food court," said Issacson. "Some of the favorite food items will be over there. Behind that is going to be the kiddie zone, the kiddie carnival. It's going to be huge In the very back, we're going to have the main carnival and they are bringing so many new rides that you've never seen. That's really exciting!"

"This is going to be amazing," said Issacson. "We wanted to make sure that we are doing our very best to make it work, make it exciting, and make it something fresh and new, new vendors, new food, new entertainment, more entertainment, all of these things to make it just just a bright spot in the year for people to look forward to."

One of the highlights of the new-look Santa Barbara County Fair will be the addition of what is being called Fiesta Square, an Hispanic-themed entertainment area that will be located in a space at the front of the Fairpark, between the Convention Center and main entrance.

"We really want to show how important this community is to our fair," said Issacson. "We are excited to see them come every year and we really want to have a special place that highlights the culture, so our brand new stage is going to be there and it's going to feature local live entertainment, some great bands, some great entertainers dancing. We brought in some excellent food trucks and vendors that are going to be really fun to shop."

In similar fashion, the Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival will also feature an enhanced size upgrade and new layout.

"Some of the big changes to look forward to for Strawberry Festival is we have a brand new layout for our vendors, said Issacson. "We are actually going to extend the vendors going towards the main gate and we're going to feature many of our local farmers. Our local ag and our strawberry sellers and other produce sellers are going to be here. They're going to be highlighted. They're going to be the stars of the show. We're hoping the weather will hold and we'll have plenty of strawberries too, and all the different varieties will be available to taste as well. All of the strawberry tasting will be in Park Plaza, which is also going to feature our car show. The Convention Center will hold the community showcase, and that's going to feature local artisans, handcrafted small businesses, as well as a selection of commercial vendors from outside of the area."

Issacson added many of the changes are the result from input Fairpark leadership has received from visitors, and from a desire to use the facilty to its full potential.

"We have an enormous fair park and we have not been able to utilize the full space," said Issacson. "We brainstormed how can we bring this? How can we bring the public and make them excited and offer more? And it was just to fill up the space that we have. I was able to tour several county fairs the past summer, so I visited Monterey, Mid-State, Ventura. We got great ideas. We networked, We said, we really like this and we like that, and we were able to bring some of those ideas to our Fairpark here." 

Located in the heart of Santa Maria, the Santa Maria Fairpark covers 33 acres of land framed by W. Stowell Road, S. Thornburg Street., S. Depot Street and W. Morrison Avenue.

The facility serves as Santa Maria largest full-service event center, which includes a large arena, convention center, two large buildings with kitchens, six barns, one horse stable, event parking, and RV camping with hook-ups.

In addition to holding the Santa Barbara County Fair in July and the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival in April, the Fairpark also hosts large and small events, trade shows, conventions, car shows, dances, concerts, company parties, livestock auctions, livestock shows, equestrian shows, wedding receptions and birthday celebrations.

The 131st Annual Santa Barbara County Fair is scheduled for July 10-14, 2024.

The Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival will take place from April 26-28, 2024.

For more information about the Santa Maria Fairpark, click here.