The Alameda County Fair opens its gates again this Friday, June 19, and runs through July 12. For Tri-Valley families, that means summer has officially started.
This year marks the fair's 114th anniversary, which is the kind of number that stops me for a second every time I think about it. The fair traces back to 1912, generations before Pleasanton became the community we know today, when this valley was still defined by ranches, hop fields, vineyards, and a horseracing track that predates almost everything else here.
Horse racing has always been my favorite part of the fair, which is what makes this year bittersweet for me. The fairgrounds sit on the site of a track built in 1858, the oldest one-mile dirt track in the country. For 164 years, generations of trainers, jockeys, and families built their lives around that track. This will be the second straight summer the fair runs without it. Financial losses and a regulatory fight that ultimately favored Southern California tracks over Northern California ones brought it to an end last year. Walking the fairgrounds without that energy still feels like something is missing.
There is hope, though. A group of local horsemen, including a Pleasanton owner who offered real money to keep racing alive, have not given up. There is now talk of a serious push in 2027 to bring racing back to Pleasanton for good. I hope it works. This valley was built on horses, and it feels like there should always be a place for them here.
Horses were not the only thing planted in this valley's soil. Around the same era the racetrack was drawing crowds, vineyards were taking root just down the road. A grower planted some of the valley's first vines in the 1880s on a red clay knoll, naming the spot Ruby Hill, and within a few years it had grown into one of the largest wine producers in the Livermore Valley. That same land is still growing grapes today.
I have my own slice of fair history too, and it has nothing to do with the track or the vines.
For a few summers, a real cattle drive came right down my street on opening day. I had a group of friends come over and watch it with me and my family, and we all stood just inches away from cowboys, horses, and cattle as they passed. Not behind a fence somewhere downtown. Most spectators on Main Street were kept back behind barriers, watching from a distance. We were close enough to actually interact with the cowboys and cowgirls as they rode by, which made it feel like we were part of the event instead of just watching it.
Stagecoaches, flags, and friendly waves right down our street. Most spectators downtown were kept behind barriers. We got to stand right at the edge of it.
One year, one of the herding dogs got separated from the group. I remember watching him fall behind while the herd kept moving toward Main Street, worried he would not catch up. He did, just as quickly as he had fallen back, rejoining the group like nothing happened. Everyone who was watching let out a breath at the same time. It is a small moment, but it has stuck with me all these years.
That cattle drive tradition was shorter lived than I realized. It started in 2017 as a brand new opening day event and only ran for three years before it was retired in 2019.
Even the mounted sheriff's posse rode through, waving to the crowd along the way.
This year brings a different milestone. For the first time in years, fireworks will light up the sky right on July 4th itself, as part of the fair's celebration of America's 250th anniversary. Between that and the opening night fireworks and drone show on June 19, this year's fair is leaning into the patriotic spirit, with a 9/11 memorial installation and a time capsule that will not be opened again until 2076.
This year's demolition derby returns July 5 through 7. A different kind of street action than the cattle drive, but the same hometown energy
I think about how much this fair has changed even just in my own time here. The cattle drive came and went. The racetrack closed, though I am hoping it does not stay that way. The vineyards are still producing wine a century and a half after they were planted. None of it stays exactly the same, and somehow it still feels like the same place.
If you are headed to opening day this Friday, I will see you there.
Patty Recupero
REALTOR® | Elation Real Estate | CA DRE 02112275
Serving Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, San Ramon, and Danville
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