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    California Mid-State Fair

    3.4 (113 reviews)
    Closed 12:00 pm - 12:00 am (Next day)

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    Cristina M.

    My first time here and it was a lot of fun. We didn't get to ride any of the rides but they sure looked fun. Clean grounds, great food and the animals are so sweet. We watched the pig competition that was pretty cool to see they were all so well behaved. It's amazing to see how these trainers can get these animals to listen to them. The goats were adorable! We watched Keith Urban at night which was such an awesome show. It did get very cold in the late afternoon about 7 pm and I ended up buying a sweatshirt. It was so nice and warm earlier that afternoon but know beforehand that can be deceiving even in mid July. It can get windy and very chilly. We were fine once he came onstage at 9 pm because we were up and moving around so that kept us pretty warm. The view of the ferris wheel at night was just magical!

    Do Not eat here at the fair! See my picture of the huge amount of French fries they buried in my California burrito bowl.
    Chris T.

    I know a lot of folks really like the California Mid-State Fair every year. I've gone several times and am lukewarm about it because I had a hard time finding good food. This year I ordered a California burrito bowl from Rico's Manjares Sophia and over half of it were French fries buried underneath a top layer of meat, beans, and a white sauce. I went back to show them the huge amount of french fries (inexpensive filler starch) they gave me and it seemed that even the counter staff was surprised. I've found it very hard to find healthy food at the fair.

    It is a screenshot of my complaint record number from the Dept. Of Justice civil rights division that handles any ADA complaint.
    Bill P.

    Concert venue not ADA friendly or accommodating. Took my purchased seats from ADA B1-B4 for the camera crew and had no accommodation except grandstand seating. My condition amplified on an aisle bench seat which my leg hung in the aisle(trip hazard for others) and everytime someone needed to use the restroom, drinks, whatever, I had to get up and then sit back down. I only was able to stay for half the Kieth Urban show before the pain overtook my ability to stay in that seat. The ADA entrance is great, but the fact you have no accommodation after taking away a handicapped persons seats says a lot about your accommodation services. I want the 400 dollars I spent for the seats you wouldn't let me sit in and I also filed a formal complaint with the Department of Justice that handles the American Disabilities Act.

    Sandhya M.

    Visited Tuesday, 26 July 2022 Underwhelming and overpriced! The fair was the "in thing" to do; there was nothing unique or awe-inspiring to see or do.Since we are in town, with nothing else on the schedule, we decided to go to the fair. "When in Rome", ya know? Well, let me tell you, the city definitely made a guap from this event!! Pay for parking $20 per vehicle Pay for entrance: * Adult (Ages 13-61): $14.00 * Senior (Ages 62+): $12.00 * Youth(Ages 6-12): $10.00 * Children: Ages 5 and under are FREE Pay for shows/concerts $$ Pay for food, drinks, merchandise, rides; basically, pay for everything!! I wonder if the vendors had to pay to got a spot inside? Although the fairgrounds we paved, it was very dusty and you came out with dusty feet after walking around. If you ventured near the animals, be sure to clean the soles of your feet before getting in your vehicle. Lol If you want to experience the fair just to say you went, then definitely go. However, I'd recommend spending your money elsewhere.

    Front Entrance...
    Phillip L.

    Well, Yelp review Readers...seems like fellow Yelper's either love the Mid-State Fair or hate it. We don't go every year...last time going was approximately 5 years or so ago. And yes...the Vendors (Retailers and Food) are basically the same with a few variants. The set up is the same but there are differences. For instance...the Entrants to the different exhibits are different. The Flower, Photo, Wine and Landscaping displays/arrangements are different. And of course in turn, the Winners (1st,2nd and 3rd place) and participants are different. The Main Stage Entertainers are different. And from year to year the interesting audience/Fair "goers" vary and in their own way do much to entertain the observer. Admittedly the prices are quite high for the Fair Food, but everything we did try was really quite good tasting. The temperature can be oppressive...but ya, learn to walk in all shaded opportunities outside and enjoy the relative "coolness" in the Retail and Exhibit Halls. Today, with family, we spent approximately 5 hours walking around enjoying all of the above mentioned, as well as, the animals (Sheep, Goats, Birds, Cows and Horses). We were tuckered out by the time we viewed everything and as we walked back across the street to get the car and drive home we all spoke about today's enjoyable affair. If you haven't been you should go. Any form of outside entertainment, even going out for dinner these days isn't cheap...so go with that fact in mind and enjoy the experience for what it is. On this occasion, in this Yelper's opinion...the CA Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles earned this "highly recommend" 4 Star review.

    Fair sign
    Kathleen C.

    Small fair but with huge personality! The crowd is friendly and family oriented. Lots of rides, food and fun! Even a free evening concert! It's small enough to cover in a couple hours but plenty to do to make an evening of it!

    Beautiful dahlia
    G. S.

    Fun fair, perfect size (smaller than the LA. County Fair), nice people. We learned a lot from Beth and Kate who showed us about weaving and looming. So interesting. The only thing that is not the fair's fault -it's too damn hot! Go early!

    Anthony Thayer and Warren Haskins setting up....
    Lynnette M.

    In light of what happened just a few days later, it's difficult to express how grateful we are that our first visit to the Mid-State Fair was not marred by senseless violence and tragedy. We had gone to see two very talented musicians playing on the Mission Stage: Anthony Thayer of the Marchines, and Warren Haskins. The night was beautiful and these very accomplished composer/singer/musicians put on a great show. Our families and friends were able to enjoy the fair, music, exhibits, and one another, in relative peace. But it's just heartbreaking that this hasn't been the case for so many others elsewhere. So, more than all else, we are thankful.

    Sheep dog trials
    Evelyn R.

    This year the first few days were dead. Cooler weather and not as many people out having fun. Hydration station is good. Miranda Lambert concert was good. Appeared that security was not as good as people were standing in the isle the whole time making it hard to see. Ice bar would/will be fun when it heats up next week. Carnival vendors are friendly and helpful. Rides are clean and for the most part lines moved. Animal exhibits are clean and fun to see always. Food vendors are well placed and I LOVE the edition of Elote.

    Ready for Santana!
    Melody A.

    Always a great time at the Mid-State fair! Something for the entire family. Great concerts, a wide variety of fair food, shopping etc.

    Monkeying around

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    Page 1 of 3

    Ask the Community - California Mid-State Fair

    How big is the fair? Should we plan an hour to walk through whole thing or a few hours?

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    Review Highlights - California Mid-State Fair

    There is no other fair that I have been to that draws the entertainment consistently like the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles.

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    Paso Robles Wine Festival

    Paso Robles Wine Festival

    4.3(6 reviews)
    0.8 mi

    This is an amazing event with 120 wineries. Splurge and get the VIP pass it's worth it! We got…read morethere at 11:30 and got our wine glasses and splash of red or sparkling wine. The VIP lounge was amazing! We had individual charcuterie cups to choose from. There was an amazing oyster bar from Morro Bay. The boys shucked 1000 oysters for us to enjoy. We had choices of two wine bar and a brewery. The next station was inside the building and it had lasagna tastings and froze with twenty other wineries. There was six outdoor sections with wine and food. My favorite was the Austin Hope ice cream and wine bar where they put olive oil and salt on the ice cream cups paired with our wine. I spun the wheel at Calcarious and won a pizza cutter and wine bag. Justin gave us pouring and a wristband for an after party. J Lohr gave us customized bandanas. The tuna tastings were delish! If you are to go to one wine event of the year this would be it! Amazing wine festival! Happy Yelping!

    Once you buy the tickets to the Paso Wine Fest as I ordered with refund protection do not expect to…read moreget the refund! They make it so difficult to process and they require supporting documentation to accept your application for a refund on terms that they dictate only. If ill you must give them a doctors note supporting being sick in the application and fill out and drag in documents by browser only that are impossible to load along with complicated long Order Number. Terrible process and designed to be impossible to support and complete a refund. This refund policy is a NO Refund process. Buyer beware!!

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    Paso Robles Wine Festival
    Paso Robles Wine Festival
    Paso Robles Wine Festival

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    Arroyo Grande Annual Strawberry Festival - One of the stages by the pancake breakfast

    Arroyo Grande Annual Strawberry Festival

    4.0(5 reviews)
    36.1 mi

    I may have romanticized this festival in my head. I imagined buying a strawberry balloon from a…read morestrawberry mascot... grabbing a strawberry infused lunch from a trendy and innovative food truck... eating a homemade (organic and fresh) strawberry shortcake dessert... Ok, I definitely romanticized it. We walked down a street with standard fair-food options (corn dogs, funnel cake, towering fried foods) before deciding to skip out on lunch. I caved and got the kids a snow cone. I didn't want to pump them full of Red 40, but I was committed to the theme and ordered strawberry syrup. They loved it. I passed several shortcake options but the cake portion was the yellow store-bought circle kind and the strawberries were more of a goop. I found a homemade strawberry shortcake from an adorable little downtown store and it was okay. Not bad, not impressive. It was $7 and I ate about $4.25 of it. The area set aside for families and younger kids was a hit with my 2 and 4 year olds. The green tractor racers was a huge hit and the turns were impressively long. It's a busy festival with lots of people but they have set up many side areas/venues so the crowds are dispersed (to take full advantage of his festival download a map and plan out the music or acts you want to see) Beside my disappointment in the level of strawberriness, it was a solid family outing and the weather was perfect. If you don't have other epic plans, I can't think of a good reason NOT to go.

    Signed up for the Strawberry Stampede 10k to kick off our first time visiting the Annual Strawberry…read morefestival. Other than the race, I can't believe how big of a dissapointment it was. The festival was more of a small-scale alternative to the mid-state fair including the same fair vendors, fair food, cheap craft booths with clothing and jewelry from national brands and a few from Fresno. The festival closed down about 4 blocks of streets for vendors, entertainment, and a couple for rides and bounce houses/games. There were a few booths from the same company that offered strawberry lemonade, strawberries with whip cream, and strawberries with angelfood cake. There was another booth that had cheesecake on a stick with strawberries. It seriously the strawberries to non-local gimmicky booths was about 25:1. At least there were a few local vendors offering BBQ sandwiches, but event burrito and Greek vendors were from out of town. Here's how you can make it better: get local restaurants to commit to participating and making an amazing strawberry dish! Ex: strawberry glazed meats, strawberry vinegarette, strawberry pie, strawberry sangria, sooo many options! If you could have closer to a 5:1 ratio of random vendors tobstrawberry vendors and get more local input this event could be amazing. Alternative option: don't call it the strawberry festival.. call it the AG Annual Fair Looked like a lot of the kids had a decent time, but talking with other adults in the area who voiced a similar dissapoitment from years past with no plan to return.

    Photos
    Arroyo Grande Annual Strawberry Festival
    Arroyo Grande Annual Strawberry Festival
    Arroyo Grande Annual Strawberry Festival - Large play area for kids. The bounce houses/activities were about 3-4 tickets ($3-$4 per kid).

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    Large play area for kids. The bounce houses/activities were about 3-4 tickets ($3-$4 per kid).

    Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest - Fidens- "Full pours only"

    Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest

    4.2(13 reviews)
    0.0 mi

    Another FWIBF in the books. This was my third year attending and FWIBF never disappoints…read more For the past two years, we were graced with nice, cool weather. I've heard horror stories about the heat. But this year....this year, Mother Nature laughed at us. I mean, even before the official countdown, I knew medics were going to be busy. The heat was something else. Despite struggling with the heat, and needing a few time outs, I still had a blast at FWIBF. It's become a yearly traditional with my partner. It's a wonderful afternoon full of the best of the best breweries, local eats, and fun music. Want to get tickets...better have all your devices ready to go when they start selling them online. These puppies sell out FAST....think Taylor Swift Eras Tour fast! We'll be back!

    I was a little hesitant to come given the price tag but my friend has gone every year and swore it…read moreis worth the cost of admission. Once you get inside everything but merch is included so there is no other costs once you're there. The breweries here represent the best of the best. There will be lines for those places but there are plenty of other great breweries that had no lines and equally as good beers without the hype. Fidens was one of my faves and I visited their tent often to get a line beer for other popular spots. There are 4000 people here but you'd hardly know that from the efficiency and the way it is spread out. The food was so good too. One pizza spot just kept putting out whole pies to take slices from. The next day we went wine tasting at two rooms that charged $30-45 per taste! Given that $80 got me 8 "samples" of wine the cost for this all inclusive beer festival doesn't seem that outlandish.

    Photos
    Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest - Side Project

    Side Project

    Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest
    Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest - Trillium

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    Trillium

    Art in the Park

    Art in the Park

    4.7(6 reviews)
    0.8 mi

    A shop of Local artists in a museum type retro, classic atmosphere. Just stroll through and browse…read moreamid a day of wine tasting or after dinner. Art for purchase or just admire local talent. & after dark you'll have a backdrop of the trees all beautifully lit up in the park.

    --What's red and smells like blue paint? Red paint…read more --The art show is coming up and I'm etching to go. --Why is it hard to talk to an abstract painter? They never go into detail. Every year towards the end of the months of April and October, Art In The Park is held in downtown City Park on 12th and Spring streets. The large grassy, oak studded park offers a nice venue for this free event. This affair draws artists from multiple states to showcase and promote their art forms. All artwork is available for purchase by attendees of the event. A plethora of art forms are available to enjoy - ceramics, clothing, fine jewelry, acrylic & oil paintings, photography, sculptures, glass works, metal artworks, woodworking, and much more. Parking is generally hard to find surrounding the park. Remember to check the parking signs as regulations have just changed again. Register your license plate with the parking kiosk as the first two hours are free and $1/hour thereafter. A few blocks in either direction, there are hundreds of free, non-metered spaces. The Art In The Park show at the downtown City Park is surrounded by a multitude of restaurants for a snack, lunch, or after-show dinner.

    Photos
    Art in the Park - Paso Robles Art In The Park - many artists offering multi mediums of artworks.   April 15-16, 2023

    Paso Robles Art In The Park - many artists offering multi mediums of artworks. April 15-16, 2023

    Art in the Park
    Art in the Park

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    Avocado Margarita Food & Drink Festival - Tuna in 1/2 Avocado

    Avocado Margarita Food & Drink Festival

    3.1(32 reviews)
    21.3 mi

    I'd been looking forward to finally attending this festival... and, although I had a great time, I…read morewas slightly disappointed. There were VERY few items that were actually avocado or avocado based. The margaritas were good and there were a few different options, so that made up for it slightly. On a good note, however, the Avocado Lime Popsicle was, hands down, the very best Popsicle I've ever had in my entire life! So delicious!!! I wanted to buy her out! Someone get this woman and her business into the stores! The high school cheerleaders made amazing guacamole with fantastic chips... we went back for more a couple of times! Thick yummy chips and huge scoops of guac! Thank you!! The "hints" posted on Instagram (upcoming food to get excited about) were nowhere to be found. I searched out 2 items but they were not anywhere. Really a bummer. Lots of vendors and advertisers, which is typical. Fun picture taking spots. Great music and dancing all day long! Super high priced foods and drinks. And Mother Nature made 2019's festival a wonderfully warm and sunny day! I had hoped to make this a tradition, but it bumped down a notch or two when it didn't quite meet my expectations. I'd go again but wouldn't make it a necessity. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Morro Bay and it's festivities... this one just fell short of my expectations. I'll update my review should I attend again. Still a great day, don't get me wrong... just fell short. CHEERS!!!

    This is always a fun day in the sun near the sea. The crowds are awesome and the vendors so nice…read more Found some great make ups, ate fantastic guacamole from the MB HS cheerleaders as a fund raiser. Entered the sombrero contest (wore a huge Piñata on my head for hours) didn't win but it was all good fun. Had many good beverages! It's not a huge event but big enough to have a great day and the ticket price to get in is only $5 - listening to good music from the large stage, and yes we sure did dance our butts off - shout out to the Jammies they had that crowd rocking. Ii am such a fan I already bought my tickets to this year's event. Go at least once it's a fun fun day! Some lines but better than prior years! Oh and the addition of seating was a huge plus. Loved the white couch things. It falls on my birthday this year, so it's going to be my party!!

    Photos
    Avocado Margarita Food & Drink Festival
    Avocado Margarita Food & Drink Festival - Entrance at AvoMarg.

    Entrance at AvoMarg.

    Avocado Margarita Food & Drink Festival

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    Central Coast Renaissance Festival

    Central Coast Renaissance Festival

    3.4(5 reviews)
    25.8 mi
    41 years in business
    Not-for-profit

    The Central Coast renaissance festival was amazing! The food was good, the vendors were great and…read moreso many festival-goers went all out with their costumes. There are some changes I would suggest for future years -- more shaded seats, an additional parking lot and more spaced-out food vendors. But overall? Those complaints were so mild compared to the AMAZING time I had walking around the grounds. The vendors were all so helpful and so kind -- the performers were well into character and the Knight Fight was the most committed I have ever seen a set of actors get into a show (shoutout to the knight who fought so hard he got a head wound! hope he's doing okay now). For a $35 ticket and $10 to park I couldn't have chosen a better way to spend a day out with friends. Some of the other reviews mentioned difficulty getting out of the park -- it was slow for us to get into the park (maybe 15 minutes in the car line at 11:30) but getting out was a breeze when we left around 5:15. I would highly recommend bringing a refillable water bottle (it can get hot!) and showing up 20-30 minutes early if you want a good seat at the Falconeers bird show or at the Knight Fight. If you are concerned about long food lines, my group and I got brunch before the ren faire, got lunch around 2:30 pm and got dinner after we left. We waited maybe 10 minutes tops for our food and some vendors had no lines. Special shoutout to the Bard who was performing all over the fair! He handed out trinkets to festival-goers and was great with the little kids.

    It is what it is :) Payed $151 plus $12 for parking online…read more The advertisement stated use code to save $4.00 per ticket. When i ordered, it added $4.36 per ticket for Fees. I paid for parking at $12 plus dollars. I saw bring $10 cash for parking unless you payed online already, I already payed online before seeing the discount. The traffic was backed up for awhile, instead of parking there, we parked accross the street and walked. The lines for food were crazy. It would be cool if they would fix these problems for next year to go smooth. Prices are way too high for what is there. Lower the prices for entry, so the vendors can get more on sales.

    Photos
    Central Coast Renaissance Festival
    Central Coast Renaissance Festival
    Central Coast Renaissance Festival

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    California Mid-State Fair - festivals - Updated May 2026

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