Madera District Fair opens today

MADERA, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Madera District Fair is making its return to the North Valley and taking the fun to new heights. This year event coordinator Barbara Leach said: "It's Your Fair."

"This is a celebration of decades of people that have contributed to the Madera Fair and exhibiting and livestock and entertainment."

Over the four-day span organizers expect more than 53,000 people to walk through the gates. In addition to new rides, and a popular concert lineup, Tech Town is making its debut.

"Allowing anyone to get a little hands-on experience driving around a little robot to inspire them, and also the virtual reality set up this year," said Rohi Zachariah, Madera High Robotics Mentor.

Fairgoers can dive into another dimension with a virtual reality demo. They can also check out award winning projects all from the Madera High School Robotics Team. Zachariah has been a mentor to the team over the last two years and has already seen tremendous growth. The idea of the program is to promote engineering, robotics, and mathematics.

"We are an engineering town and we want to inspire people to go in those directions."

"This building represents technology from a century ago, so it's really cool to still celebrate pioneering things and things that are new and on the cusp," said Leach.

But let's not forget the fair favorites-- dozens of concession stands that will make the classics.

Exhibit halls are filled with handy work, fine arts, photography, showers, and livestock.

"Fairs are this culmination of people's work over the year, and so it's a great time to pull that together and celebrate that," said Leach.

The Madera District fair runs through Sunday.

Hours:

Thursday & Friday

5pm - 11pm

Saturday & Sunday

3pm - 11pm

Tickets:

General admission: $8

Seniors and children: $4

Children 5 and under: Free