Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival to return to Indio on an annual basis
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved a partnership to bring the Date Festival back to Indio on an annual basis.
On Tuesday, the board approved a five-year partnership with Pickering Events LLC to operate the Riverside County Fairgrounds in Indio.
The agreement will bring back the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival on an annual basis and ensure the continuation of the Fair Board as well as funding support to improve the Fairgrounds facilities, Supervisor Manuel Perez announced.
Perez also announced that the next Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival will be held February 17-26, 2023, and it will return as a full-scale event.
“This is great for the City of Indio, the Coachella Valley and Riverside County and for the future of the National Date Festival,” said Supervisor Perez. “Riverside County and the Fair Board look forward to being partners with Pickering in bringing the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival back for the community, as well as attracting events to increase use of the Fairgrounds for the community and families.”
The Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival was last held in person in February 2020. It was held virtually in 2021 due to the pandemic. In 2022, the festival was temporarily replaced "Thrillville at the Fairgrounds."
The future of the Date Festival has been in question for the past two years. In Nov 2020, the Board of Supervisors approved $1.6 million in funding for the fairgrounds, however, some supervisors raised questions about what they perceive to be financial losses.
"I've kind of reached my limit on continuing to fund the date festival at such dramatic losses every year," said Supervisor Kevin Jeffries.
Both Supervisors Jeff Hewitt and Chuck Washington have previously said the event has been poorly marketed, and its location -- in the Coachella Valley -- has made it uninviting to residents in more populated areas on the western side of the county.
The Date Festival has been held at the county fairgrounds in Indio for 76 years. With a new partnership, the location will remain the same for the foreseeable future.
