Adulting for kids at heart at the 2019 OC Fair

COSTA MESA (July 22, 2019) – The OC Fair is a special place where you can leave your worries behind, and for 23 summer days and nights, have some seriously grown-up fun.

Here are some great ways for adults to enjoy the OC Fair:

Watch your favorite tribute band and party like it’s 1982: You know that feeling when your favorite song from high school comes on the radio? Why not experience it live in The Hangar? Coming up this week, we have Queen Nation (Queen tribute), Rumours (Fleetwood Mac tribute), Sweet & Tender Hooligans (Morrissey and The Smiths tribute) and Which One’s Pink (Pink Floyd tribute), plus Berlin on the bill with Devotional (Depeche Mode tribute). 

Seriously up your Instagram game: There are specially designed selfie spots around almost every corner at the OC Fair. There are cutouts, backdrops and fantastic wings for your best shots. And the carnival at night sets the scene for photos that are so good, they could score a prize at next year’s fair. Bonus: Enter our Where in the Fair selfie contest to win OC Fair tickets plus food and ride vouchers so you can come back and discover even more to do. 

Enjoy an adult beverage: Try one of the off-the-midway options like Hussong’s Cantina, where the micheladas and dancing in the evenings come highly recommended. Or the Craft Bar tucked inside our OC Promenade Culinary Arts building, where they serve up craft beer, wine and vodka concoctions in a cool, almost secret nook.

Go shopping – and go big: The big difference between being a kid and being an adult is the ability to buy things (hello, credit card!). What’s the largest thing you can buy at the Fair? A Toyota is pretty big, but you could also get a spa, a mattress, an air conditioner or an entire set of snazzy cookware. There are great only-at-the-OC Fair deals in the shopping buildings, Crafters Village and at stands located throughout the fairgrounds.

You know you’ve always wanted to get hyptonized: This is the year to do it – go ahead, the kids aren’t here to see how silly you get when you go under. The stories will make it totally worth it. Mark Yuzuik is a perennial crowd-pleaser on the Heritage Stage nightly at 6:15 p.m., 8:15 p.m., 10:15 p.m.

Learn enough to do your own Ted Talk: Seminars in our Culinary Arts building include cooking with olive oil, sushi-making and creating mascarpone cheesecake. Visual arts demonstrations include watercolor painting, using Photoshop and digital painting. There’s also woodworking, flower arranging, beading and more to learn.

Get romantic: The Tunnel of Love may be a thing of the past, but there are plenty of places for a sunset smooch and you won’t want to miss those photo booths where you can perfect your poses for posterity. We also hear that lots of couples get engaged at the OC Fair, hint, hint.

Bonus: Love is in the Fair! This year we are giving away an OC Fair barn wedding. To enter, shoot a short video (less than one minute) and show why you are the perfect couple to get married during the OC Fair, tag it #ocfairwedding and post it on social media.