The Big Fresno Fair

Culinary Road Trip · California

The Big Fresno Fair: A Day in the Heart of the Valley

From prize-winning grapes and garlic to the Original Soft Taco I’ve loved since I was a kid, a day celebrating the people who grow, raise, and cook the Valley’s food.

Every October, the Big Fresno Fair brings the whole Central Valley together in one place — the farms, the families, the animals, and of course, the food. We spent the day wandering the agriculture halls, visiting the livestock barns, and eating our way down the midway.

This year’s theme was “Find Your Adventure,” and for a culinary educator, the adventure always starts where the food does. Before anything lands on a plate, someone planted it, tended it, and brought their very best to be judged. And at the end of the day, there’s one treat I look forward to every single year.

The Fair By the Numbers

1884Year the first Fresno Fair opened — held at the same grounds, at the same time of year, ever since

165Acres of fairgrounds in the City of Fresno

1947The year the Original Soft Taco stand got its start

The Ag Building

Through These Doors

The Agriculture Building

The lettering over the entrance says it all: the greatest farmers and ranchers of the world have walked through these doors. Painted grapes, melons, corn, and cauliflower frame the entrance, and inside is a celebration of everything the Valley grows. This is the building I want every student to see.

The Agriculture Building, painted with the Valley’s harvest.

Find Your Adventure

A World Map Made of Fruit

Fowler Lions Club

The Fowler Lions Club built their display around the fair theme, with a world map made entirely of produce and the Central Valley pinned right in the middle. Below it, row after row of ribbon-winning entries: Lisbon lemons, pomegranates, plums, peaches, persimmons, and jujubes. It’s a beautiful reminder of how much of the world’s flavor grows within a short drive of Fresno.

Ribbon-winning fruit from Fowler, with the whole world mapped in produce above it.

Grape Country

Selma & Kingsburg

Raisin Capital of the World · The Swedish Village

Two neighboring towns, two very different displays. Selma showed off its grapes in weathered wooden crates stamped “Raisin Capital of the World,” while Kingsburg, the Swedish Village, lined theirs up in gold-trimmed rows labeled by variety and grower.

Selma’s wooden crates and Kingsburg’s gold-trimmed rows.

Garlic

All About Garlic

Coalinga

Coalinga’s booth was a garlic lover’s dream: crates of plump white heads nestled in wood shavings, blue ribbons, and a planting guide that caught my eye.

A first-place plate of Coalinga garlic, and crates of it behind the big red letters.

Culinary Note

Garlic goes into the ground in fall, roughly mid-October to mid-November, and is harvested the following summer. In other words, right now is planting season — if you’ve ever wanted to grow your own, this is your sign.

The Hive

Watching the Bees at Work

Observation Hive

The observation hive drew a crowd of kids with their noses nearly on the glass. The sign explained that there is only one queen, marked with a white dot on her back, and that nearly the entire hive is made up of female workers. Without pollinators, many of the fruits in this building wouldn’t exist.

One queen, thousands of workers — please don’t tap on the glass!

The Barns

The Livestock Barns

FFA & 4-H Exhibitors

The livestock barns are where young farmers shine. Students from local FFA and 4-H programs care for these animals for months before the fair. We met a magnificent white turkey in full display and a Holstein from the Sanger High School dairy cattle program enjoying her lunch.

Strutting his stuff, and a Sanger High School Holstein at lunch.

My Favorite

The Original Soft Taco

Since 1947

Some foods are more than food. For me, the Original Soft Taco is a taste of being a kid at the fair. I have awesome childhood memories of standing at this stand, holding a warm taco wrapped in paper — and these days, it’s still the treat I look forward to most.

The stand under the green umbrellas, and three to go.

The soft taco is a corn tortilla, lightly fried just until soft, rolled around a seasoned meat filling and wrapped in paper so you can eat it on the go. Simple, humble, and completely satisfying. This year did not disappoint — they tasted exactly the way I remembered.

Culinary Note

I love these so much that I make my own version at home. You’ll find my recipe at the end of this post.

Fair Food

Fry Bread Nation

Indian Tacos & Sweet Breads

Fry bread is a puffy, golden, deep-fried dough with deep roots in Native American cooking. Topped as an “Indian taco,” it’s loaded with beans, seasoned meat, lettuce, shredded cheese, sour cream, and diced tomato. They also offer a ground bison version, plus sweet breads with honey, cinnamon, or powdered sugar.

Bring a fork, and a friend to share with.

Fair Food

The Korean Shack

Korean Corn Dogs

Korean corn dogs have become a fair favorite. You choose your filling — mozzarella, beef hot dog, or half and half — then your coating, and they’re fried to order. The boldest option on the menu came rolled in Fruity Pebbles. It’s a fun lesson in how a classic American fair food gets reinvented through another culture’s street-food tradition.

Pick your filling, pick your coating, pick your size.

Fair Food

Giant Pickles

$4.50 + Tax

No fair walk is complete without a giant dill pickle. It was a crunchy, salty, refreshing break from all the fried food — and a great way to talk with kids about fermentation and preserving the harvest.

Crunchy, salty, and the perfect palate cleanser.

“Through these doors have walked the greatest farmers & ranchers of the world.”

— Over the entrance to the Agriculture Building

Deborah’s Original-Style Soft Tacos

my at-home take on the fair classic

1 lbGround Beef

CornTortillas

CabbageMy Pick

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3–4 cloves garlic, minced (or more to taste)
• 1 potato, cooked and mashed
• 4–5 tomatillos, husked, boiled until soft, then diced or mashed
• 1 small head of cabbage, shredded (or lettuce — see tip)
• Seasoning to taste: salt, pepper, garlic salt, ground cumin, and chili powder or cayenne
• 1–2 packages corn tortillas
• Oil, for frying
• Salsa

Directions

1. Brown the beef in a large skillet. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened. Season with salt, pepper, garlic salt, cumin, and chili or cayenne.
2. Drain the excess fat. If there’s only a little, leave it in for flavor.
3. Stir in the tomatillos, mashed potato, and cabbage. Cook until the cabbage wilts, then taste and adjust the seasoning.
4. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and lightly fry each tortilla just until soft and pliable. Don’t overcook them, or the edges will crisp and crack when you roll them.
5. Lay the tortillas on plenty of paper towels to soak up the extra oil.
6. Spoon the beef filling onto each tortilla, add a little salsa, and roll it up snugly.
7. Place the tacos seam-side down in a Pyrex or baking dish. If you’re layering them, put wax paper between each layer so they don’t stick together.

I like cabbage better than lettuce — it cooks right into the filling and gives more flavor. If you use lettuce, add it just before rolling, and only if you’re eating the tacos right away.

The Big Fresno Fair · Fresno, California · A Culinary Road Trip Series