FUN FACTS FROM THE 2016 BIG FRESNO FAIR

Fresno, CA….October 16, 2016…The gates have closed on another Big Fresno Fair, the largest annual event in the Central Valley! This year’s 12 day event welcomed people throughout the Valley and beyond, featured hundreds of vendors and exhibitors, plus a variety of attractions and entertainment! The following information has been prepared as of Sunday, October 16, and includes a snapshot of interesting and unique facts and statistics from the 2016 Big Fresno Fair.

The Big Fresno Fair hired 688 employees for the months of September and October. NOTE: This does not include the local employees hired by our carnival provider, Butler Amusements; our janitorial company, Venue Smart; or each of the individual food vendors.

Big Fresno Fair Social Media

 3,410,206 people were reached through The Big Fresno Fair’s Facebook during the 12 days of the 2016 Big Fresno Fair

 The Big Fresno Fair has 61,740 fans on Facebook

 The Big Fresno Fair has 9,671 followers on Twitter

 The Big Fresno Fair has 9,172 followers on Instagram (triple what we had last year!)

 The Big Fresno Fair has 126 followers on their newly created Snapchat profile.

Livestock Pavilion

 2,795 animals were exhibited at The Big Fresno Fair

 798 animals were put up for auction at the two 2016 Jr. Livestock Auctions (10/8 and 10/15)

 The most expensive animal sold for $16,800, which was a steer.

 The highest price per pound was $50 and it was for a goat.

Ag Ventureland

 57 pregnant sheep (ewes) were brought to the 2016 Big Fresno Fair

 84 lambs were born on-site

 50 baby chicks were brought in for educational display at the Fair.

 5 cows were milked at the Cow Palace Milking Demonstrations and 400 gallons of milk were

 

collected during the 12 days of Fair.  144 baby animals were on display.

The Fair Education Program

This annual program draws students, teachers and parents from Fresno County Elementary School classrooms who take part in educational tours of the Fair. Young participants visit each exhibit building and they are taught about the rich agricultural history of The Big Fresno Fair while using an interactive and educational guide and having fun all at the same time.

 Over 33,450 Fresno County parents, teachers and students toured the Fair on four different days this year as part of the Fair Education Program. This is the 24th year of the program.

Home Arts Building presented by Save Mart Supermarkets

 There were 124 homemade quilts that were entered for display

 Had an average of 8 demonstrations per day.

 Pumpkin Carving Contest; had 10 participants

 Here are some of the featured food contests:

o Salsa Contest – 20 participants

o Central Valley Flavors Made with Nuts Contest – 7 participants

o Sun-Maid Baked with Raisins & Sun-Maid Raisin Cookie Contest – 34 participants

o Pie Contest – 14 participants

o Made with Chocolate Contest – 24 participants (that’s more than double the participants

from 2015!)

Wells Fargo Agriculture Building

 3,850 pounds of pumpkins were displayed during the Fair.

 20,000 bees were displayed every day in two boxes. Those boxes were switched every two days,

which meant there were 120,000 different bees on display during the 12-day Fair!

 4 ft. tall Mexican Squash was on display in the Home Gardener area.

 Two 3 ft. Winter Melon’s on display in the Fowler Booth.

 6 varieties of garlic were on display in the Coalinga Booth.

Gem and Mineral Exhibit

 591 pounds of polished rocks were handed out to children during the Fair Education Program.

 150 bags of polished rocks and 150 pendants were taken to Valley Children’s Hospital during the

Fair’s annual visit and were given to patients being treated there.

 $6,000 in scholarshipswere awarded to Fresno State and Fresno City College geology students.

Free Entertainment

 1,673 hours of FREE entertainment were provided during the 2016 Fair.

 There was an average of 139.42 hours of free entertainment per day

SPCA

 59 animals were adopted by Fair patrons during the 12 days of the Fair.

 56 dogs were adopted.

 3 cats were adopted.

All-Alaskan Pig Races

 192 All-Alaskan Pig races were run.

 The pigs ran a total of 3.5 miles each.

GASCAR Crazy Animal Races

 36 races were run during the Fair!

 The animals races 2.2 miles in total.

 The duck won the most races.

Willamette Valley Pie Company

 900 slices of pie were sold.

 1,600 slices of cobbler were sold.

 85 cobblers were sold.

 400 turnovers were sold.

 216 gallons of ice cream were used.

 The most popular item sold was the peach cobbler

Garlicky’s

 7,500 Garlic Chicken Kabobs and Veggie Kabobs were sold.

 800 Garlic Dogs were sold.

 10,000 cloves of Garlic were used throughout the Fair.

Sharky’s Fish Fry

 800 Lobster Corn Dogs were sold at the Fair.

 800 Captain Crunch Shrimp-on-a-Stick were sold.

 2,800 Lobster Fries were sold!

Indian Fry Bread

 4,000 Indian tacos were sold.

 2,000 pounds of bread were used during the Fair.

 100 new Vegetarian Tofu Corn Dogs were sold.

 100 new Bison Nachos were sold.

Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls – All Three Stands

 Over 31,000 pounds of flour were used.

 Over 12,500 pounds of cinnamon sugar mixture were used.

 Over 5,000 pounds of butter were used.

 Over 2,200 pounds of cream cheese were used.

 700 Cinnamon Roll Sundaes were sold at two of the stands.

 50 people were employed at all three stands during the 12-day Fair.

 Oldest employee was 77 years old.

 Longest Fair employee is 32 years and counting.

Wild Bills Olde Fashioned Soda Pop Co.

 1,800 Stainless Steel Collectible Cups were sold

Hazelrigg Concessions

 1,500 pounds of flour were used for Beerock dough were used.

 1,500 pounds of ground beef were used.

 1,500 onions were used in the Beerock meat.

 30 new Meatball Sliders were sold.

 45 Chili Cheese Burritos were sold.

Chicken Charlie’s

 Over 1,000 new Deep-Fried S’mores were sold.

 Almost 2,000 Chicken in a Waffle on a Stick were sold.

 2,000 pounds of waffle batter was used for Chicken in a Waffle on a Stick.

 5,000 balls of Bacon-wrapped Guacamole were sold.

 500 Bacon-wrapped Pickles were sold.

 3,000 Krispy Cream donuts were used.

Wellmon Concessions

 240 Pesto Fries were sold.

 1,200 Pastrami Sandwiches were sold, which was their most popular item.

 450 pounds of sweet pork was used for the Dirty Fries and the Pork Sandwiches.

Corn Stars (Jackson Enterprises)

 5,280 ears of corn were purchased.

 2,000 orders of Corn in a Cup were sold.

 1,000 baked potatoes were sold.