Mother Lode Fair Runs Today Through Sunday
The Mother Lode Fair in Sonora is ready for four days of fun starting today and continuing through Sunday.
Ken Alstott, Mother Lode Fair CEO, was Thursday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”.
Alstott is excited for this year’s fair and hopes that returning crowds will see everything that makes the local fair great.
“We’ve increased the fair from three days to four days and we have changed the hours,” said Alstott. “We listened to the public and they wanted the fair to run for four days, during the afternoon and evening hours.”
The new hours are:
Thursday, July 5 – 5pm to Midnight
Friday, July 6 – 5pm to Midnight
Saturday, July 7 – 3pm to Midnight
Sunday, July 8 – 3pm to 11pm
There will be entertainment from musical acts, carnival rides, food, crafts, animals, shows each night at the arena and the annual Livestock Auction this Saturday at 5 PM. There is also a new sports bar available.
Alstott said that per Sacramento, county fairs promote regional agriculture and also highlight things that are created locally such as special jams, quilts, wood crafts and/or mechanical objects.
The Fair began in 1889 as the Tuolumne County Fair & Horse Show on Racetrack Road, then reinvented itself in 1938 as the ‘Mother Lode Fair’. The Fair is now situated on 25 acres, south of downtown Sonora, on Stockton Road (Hwy 49).
Alstott’s background includes twelve years of fair CEO experience with eight managing the San Bernardino County Fair and up until April of last year as head of the Cow Palace in Daly City in the Bay Area. He also served four years in the military and 20 years in law enforcement; most recently with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department working investigations and as part of the K-9 unit.
The grandstand arena will feature truck and tractor-pulls on Saturday and Sunday at 7 PM.
Free shuttle service (including the trolley) will be provided from the Junction Shopping Center for all four days of the fair. The shuttles are highly recommended as local traffic near the fairgrounds will be busy all weekend. Everyone who rides the trolley will receive a dollar off admission at the gate.
For all of the details, go to http://www.motherlodefair.org
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard each weekday morning on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45am.
