The final concert has ended, the last drum set has been loaded out, and the stage is dark, all marking the finale of the the 2026 OC Fair season.
The OC Fair ran July 17-Aug. 16 and 1,121,000 fairgoers embarked on new adventures and made amazing memories at the state’s top fair.
Entertainment was a huge draw with 83 performances ranging from music and comedy to demolition derbies and monster truck shows across three venues. There were nine sold-out shows and hundreds of community entertainers performed on six free stages.
The Fair’s extended summer concert series concluded on Sept. 6 when Boy George and Culture Club closed out the season in Pacific Amphitheatre.
This year’s theme was “Your Adventure Awaits” and the thrills of the carnival enticed fairgoers to vie for 94 semitruckloads of prizes, with more than 387,000 stuffed animals won. The most popular prizes were Hello Kitty watermelon, Cookie Monster and highland cows. Top games were Big Water Race, “Beer” Pong, Bottle Up, Tubs and Bank a Ball.
This year the OC Fair & Share program was launched and lucky prize winners donated 9,585 toys that local Lions Clubs will distribute to children’s organizations. A determined team of YouTubers donated an additional 1,000 prizes that they worked hard to win.
Fairgoers appetite for adventure certainly extended to Fair food and creative concessionaires cooked up classic concoctions along with outrageous originals. More than 25,000 pounds of fresh strawberries and a swimming pool of melted chocolate were poured on top of the treats at RCS Carnival stands.
At Chicken Charlie’s, 16,000 orders of the new shawarma wraps were served and at Corn Star, 42,000 ears of corn were shucked. At The Hot Potato Club, 11,450 pounds of potatoes were topped while Ten Pound Buns served up 8,400 pounds of their sourdough creations.
Sweet treats are always OC Fair favorites and this year The Snax Shack used 3,900 pounds of popcorn and 2,525 pounds of sugar while Mom’s Bakeshoppe made 108,000 chocolate chip cookies from scratch and Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls needed 6,000 pounds of flour and one ton of cinnamon sugar for their pastries. Fairgoers kept cool with 3,123 vanilla cones from One Stop Ice Cream and Squeezers sold more than 8,000 gallons of lemonade.
OC Fair guests also love a good deal and the $5 Taste of the Fair options did not disappoint with 249,000 items sold. The top $5 Taste vendors were Baja Bar & Grill selling 12,894 items, Noel’s Mexican Food selling 11,923 items and JP’s Old West Cinnamon Rolls selling 9,171 items.
All that great food created some powerful thirst and at the Wine Courtyard, more than 33,000 glasses were served by 200 volunteers working 5,293 hours for the OC Wine Society. Many of those wines were gold medal winners as part of the Fair’s culinary competitions which included a revitalized homebrew contest that attracted 150 entries.
In total, there were 8,094 entries submitted for this year’s competitive programs in which local makers and growers vied for blue ribbons including 3,289 in photography, 1,698 in culinary, 1,444 in hobbies & handcrafts and 1,258 in fine art. In the garden and floral categories, 4,500 entries were submitted by 800 exhibitors.
Agriculture is the heart of any fair and over at Centennial Farm, 27 piglets were born during this year’s OC Fair, delighting guests as well as the 58 farm volunteers who provided 1,538 hours of service. The annual Jr. Livestock Auction sold 179 animals generating $243,971 in sales directly benefitting local 4-H and FFA students who dedicated their time and finances to raise the animals.
Each year, local charities benefit from funds generated during the OC Fair’s demolition derbies. In 2026, $53,124 was raised for CHOC and $6,000 was raised for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Volunteers with Knots of Love crafted hats that were donated to 14 adult cancer centers, four veterans hospitals and three pediatric infusion centers.
At the end of each Fair day, taps was played at sunset at Heroes Hall a total of 23 times while 14,740 visitors viewed exhibits honoring the stories of veterans and 2,056 postcards were decorated for distribution to troops.