Madera Fair takes you back with tons of discounts

Remember the days of the local community fair, where folks competed to be recognized for the best homemade jelly or the biggest home-grown pumpkin? Where you could watch the 4-H and FFA kids collect ribbons for the animals and projects they had been working on all year? Where you could shop all the vendor booths for items you can only find at the fair? Where there were always fun carnival rides and midway games to play, not to mention being able to treat yourself to all the corn dogs and cotton candy you could eat?

Well, the good news is, it is that time again

The Madera District Fair kicks off its four-day run on September 8. All the favorite fair foods will be on sale from local service clubs and vendors. How long has it been since someone had a jumbo corn dog or a frozen banana?

In addition, all your favorite fair acts will be roaming the grounds waiting to entertain you with magic, balloon animals and music.

The Midway of Fun will be back with all the favorite carnival rides and games, and let us not forget the hours of entertainment on all of the fair’s stages.

This year, the gate admissions during the fair will be $15 for adults over 13 years of age and $10 for seniors; kids 12 years old and younger are free when accompanied by an adult.

Here is the first “Fair Pro Tip.” For a limited time, the Madera Fair offers significant savings for families purchasing tickets and wristbands in advance. Up until the day before the start of the fair, advance gate admission tickets and carnival wristbands will be on sale at Rancho San Miguel Market in Madera beginning August 25, at the Madera Fair’s office, and online on the fair’s website (www.MaderaFair.com) at reduced prices.

Gate admission tickets will be on sale for $5 off the regular price for both general and senior guests (available online). Advance carnival wristband coupons are available for $30, another $5 saving. For a family of four, this is a potential savings of over $40 on an evening’s entertainment at the fair. Advance tickets are also good for any day of the fair. So, if one purchased tickets expecting to go on Friday night, but could not make it until Saturday, the tickets will still be good.

The fair also offers special days to save families even more money, like Valley Children’s Healthcare Day on September 8, where everyone, despite their age, gets into the fair for the kid’s price, FREE. Everyone is admitted for free on opening night-only. That savings alone is enough to buy everyone in the family a corn dog. In addition, (another “Fair Pro Tip”) on both Saturday and Sunday, the Early Bird Special from 3-5 p.m. offers a buy one get one free Carnival Wristbands (these savings cannot be combined with other offers, such as advance purchase wristbands).

The Madera Fair kicks off on September 8 and runs until September 11. Hours of free entertainment are scheduled for both the Headliners’ and the 20/30 Stage, plus all the ground acts that will be playing multiple times a night throughout the grounds.

While they are still available, grab savings on advance tickets and carnival coupons and be taken back to the good old days of the community fair.

There will be a corn dog waiting with your name on it.