The Cloverdale Citrus Fair is the earliest fair on California's calendar each year, filling the Citrus Fairgrounds in Cloverdale over Presidents' Day weekend.
The program is a classic small-town fair: a Saturday-morning parade through downtown, a carnival, livestock shows, a talent show, live music and exhibit halls full of the entries local families bring in each year.
The Cloverdale Citrus Fair is the earliest fair on California's calendar each year, filling the Citrus Fairgrounds in Cloverdale over Presidents' Day weekend.
The program is a classic small-town fair: a Saturday-morning parade through downtown, a carnival, livestock shows, a talent show, live music and exhibit halls full of the entries local families bring in each year.
Go for the time capsule. In the middle of winter, with the vineyards bare and the valleys quiet, the top of the county gathers for four days of fair, and visitors are welcomed in as neighbors.
There is a wine story here too: the same fairgrounds host the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest competition of North American wines. Come for the parade on Saturday, stay for the carnival lights after dark, and you will see a side of the county the summer crowds never meet.
The Cloverdale Citrus Fair has staged California's earliest annual fair at its own fairgrounds in Cloverdale since 1892.
Visit organizer site →Cloverdale's first oranges grew from seeds brought from Panama, and by the 1890s the town's citrus groves were its pride. The fair was born to celebrate them, with exhibits built from oranges and other citrus at its heart, a tradition entrants still keep with their elaborate citrus displays.
Hard frosts eventually ended the commercial orchards, and only scattered old trees remain around town, but the fair carried on and kept its name.
