Merced County Fairgrounds

The Merced County Fairgrounds are home to the annual Merced County Fair the county fair of Merced County. Merced County Fair was first held on September 2, 1891. The 1891 fair was held at 18th Street in Merced, California and was a joint county fair with Mariposa County. Merced County Fair show cases: livestock, exhibits, carnival rides, music and fair food each year.

Merced County Fair
Merced County Fairgrounds in 1942
GenreCounty fair
FrequencyAnnually, for 5 days in June
Location(s)Merced, California
Years active1891–1916, 1919–1935, 1937–1942, 1946–2019, 2021– (no fair during WWI from 1917–18, 1936, WWII from 1943 to 1945, nor 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
Founded1891
Attendance64,536 in 2019 [1]
Websitemercedcountyfair.com

History

Merced County has held a fair since 1891, missing on 1917–18 (World War I), 1943–45 (World War II), 1936 and 2020 due to Coronavirus disease. In 2020 a virtual livestock show was held due to the Corona virus. The first solo Merced County fair was held on September 14 & 15, 1929 at the Applegate Park Municipal Baseball Park. Early fairs hosted a rodeo and 4-H livestock shows. In 1931, the fair moved to its current site at 11th and G streets, now 900 Martin Luther King Jr Way. In 1937, a parade and a three-day horse racing was added to the fair. The fair closed in 1943 and did not open again till 1946 due to World War 2. In 1946 the fair was run by the California Department of Food and Agriculture's 35th District Agricultural Association. The fairgrounds have been used year-round to support other community activities. On the fairgrounds have been the county library branch, fire station, a school for the mentally-handicapped, preschool program, Merced College, the J. Emmett McNamara Memorial Museum, and Leontine Gracey Elementary School. The fairgrounds are also rented out during the year.[2]

Phil Vassar, Country music artist at the Merced County Fair in 2007

















Merced Fairgrounds Speedway

When the fair is not meeting the race track is used for the Merced Fairgrounds Speedway. Merced Speedway is a 0.375-mile NASCAR dirt track race car, midget Car and motorcycle racing.[3][4][5] Chris Windom won the 2020 National Midget Car championship at the Merced Fairgrounds Speedway.[6]

Chris Windom's midget Car








Camp Merced

With the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Merced County Fairgrounds was turned into the Merced Assembly Center, a temporary detention center for those of Japanese ancestry. The center opened on May 6, 1942 and closed on September 15, 1942. Most of those detained were transferred to permanent camp, Granada War Relocation Center in Colorado. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the forced relocation of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast with Executive Order 9066 over the fear of more attacks. On September 15, 1942, when the Assembly Center closed, fairgrounds were turned over to the United States Army Air Forces 4th Air Service Area Command for supplies and training till 1945, called Camp Merced. The 4th Air Service Area Command's Camp Merced was used for three years as the headquarters and to support the Merced Army Air Field and the Merced Army Airfield auxiliary fields that were used for training new pilots needed for World War 2. The 802nd Chemical Company and 1914th Ordnance Ammunition Company, Aviation was also trained at Camp Merced before deployment to the Pacific War [7][8] The former Merced Assembly Center is a California Historical Landmarks, number 934.02. [9][10]

See also

References

  1. "Press Room". Merced County Fair. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  2. "History". Merced County Fair. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  3. "Merced Speedway". www.mercedspeedway.net. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  4. "CFTA-AMA Rd. 5 Merced Speedway Pro/Am Western Championship". www.purplepass.com. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  5. "Merced Speedway in Merced, CA (Google Maps)". Virtual Globetrotting. 2008-11-08. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  6. "Merced Speedway". USAC National Midget cars. November 21, 2020. Event occurs at 18:15. FloRacing.
  7. "Historic California Posts: Merced Assembly Center - Camp Merced". militarymuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  8. "National Park Service: Confinement and Ethnicity (Chapter 16)". nps.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  9. Beatrice Delja. "CHL # 934.02 Temporary Detention Camp for Japanese Americans/Merced Assembly Center Merced". californiahistoricallandmarks.com. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  10. Air Force bases,by Robert Mueller, 1982, Page 398
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