Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival returns after three-year hiatus
The Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival returns after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
"I'm really to be back, enjoy the good food, enjoy the good rides and hang out with my friends," a group of young festival goers said.
We know people have been waiting for the date festival to make its big comeback and it sure is. There’s something for everyone – whether it be rides, games, and even musical appearances from Flo Rida and the Frey, and many people's personal favorite the food!
News Channel 3's Samantha Lomibao went out and tried some so you know what to expect, even some with a special item incorporated into their menus just for this festival!
Barbecue, turkey legs, corn on the cob all of your fair food favorites including county fair cinnamon rolls that have become a staple at the fair.
"This is not our first rodeo. We've been coming to the riverside date festival. I'm going to say at least four decades," said Dane Baldwin, owner of County Fair Cinnamon Rolls.
Baldwin says their cinnamon rolls date back to 1978 and they’ve been using the same dough recipe since day one.
But something they haven’t done yet at this fair, the maple bacon bomb.
“Well, this year we're debuting the cinnamon bacon balm. And that's the cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting bacon and maple syrup on the top,” Baldwin said.
And it couldn’t be the national date festival without dates of course. Some vendors at this year’s fair decided to do something different – by adding these sweet little fruits to their menus.
Strange because we'd never heard of a date slosh or a date boba drink, but we thought why not? It's just an added syrup. Like we do anything else," said Sean Rocha, Owner of Boba King.
For Rocha, it was unusual but an easy add-on
"I just knew as long as there was a syrup that we could get for it, it would work perfect because our drinks are made with syrups anyways," Rocha said.
But for other vendors – adding dates to the menu was more of a challenge – like for Noel’s Mexican Food who turned the sweet treat – into a savory snack.
"This year, we decided to do a bacon wrap dates with chipotle dip and sauce," Marco Arredondo of Noel's.
Nonetheless, a menu item they’re excited to test out this year.
"Date is that's a kind of a tricky item. You know, it's not very commonly used, I guess, in Mexican cuisine, but you know, it's one of those things that where you can, you know, the that's where your creativity is gonna come out. You know, it's a challenge and you know, we're up for the challenge for sure," Arredondo said.
It’s a 10-day festival starting tonight and going all the way through next Sunday. Starting at 10 AM to 10 PM each day
You can buy tickets at the fairgrounds or on its website.
