| Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The Celebration Stage hosts many of the fair's performances | |
| Genre | County fair, Fair, Food Festival |
| Date(s) | 10 days (mid-to-late February) |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Indio, California |
| Years active | 77 (at Riverside County Fairgrounds) [1] |
| Inaugurated | 1921 (at Indio City Park) [1] |
| Attendance | 0 (2021-22) [2] |
| Organised by | Riverside County Economic Development Agency Pickering Events LLC[2] |
| Website | www |
| [1][2] | |
The Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival takes place in Indio, California. Since 1947 the annual festival has been held to celebrate the Date Palm harvest in the Coachella Valley. The event is held in February on the Riverside County Fairgrounds. The fair is located in Indio, California, a city in the Colorado Desert, approximately 130 miles (210 km) east of Los Angeles.
The Coachella Valley has about 250,000 date palms planted on approximately 5,000 acres (20 km2) which produces 35,000,000 pounds of dates annually.[3] This long-standing agricultural industry is responsible for 95 percent of the nation's crop of dates.[4]
The Date Festival has more than 7000 exhibits and competitions related to the fruit. It has grown to feature musicians and comedians, a Date Festival Queen and her court, monster trucks and bull-riding.[4]
Safety for the fair is provided by the Indio Police Department, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office, and private security.