Maricopa County Fair

We went our first year here and we loved how much less people there were and less vendors. It still had so much food and shops but not as many people which was so nice. They had a sea lion show and monster trucks going when we were there and the kids loved it. My only complaint would be you HAD to buy each person a wristband as opposed to individual tickets. We just wanted to do a couple rides with the kids but couldn't because they only did wristbands which is something the state fair offers on TOP of individual tickets. So it was a bummer to not be able to do those. Everything else was good and the heat during the fair is much better than the state fair. We will be coming back for next years county fair for sure and plan rides accordingly next time

Came to the Maricopa County Fair It's been fun.Had a bean and cheese fry bread and a French Kiss Crepe.Have walked a few miles sight seeing.Love sharing with my hubby

This year, Godfrey the Magician is walking up a six machete ladder barefoot, Skip Banks the balloon man has new songs, Nancy is strolling with Blue Bear-y, there is a high dive show. More food, music, vendors, and family contests. I love this family environment, come on out through April 16th, 2017

If your looking to be a vendor these people are scammy I paid to park my food truck and they put me between a wall and a ride away from the other food cause I'm new but never mentioned that i wouldn't be by the other food while asking me to serve breakfast to the 4h while they were bringing in outside food costing me 6k in product I couldn't sell they are legit a bunch of con artists theives that only want money no matter who they burn ! waited 3 years to be in the fair ! Never attend it either ever again !

Came in on opening day and got in free if we showed up before 3pm. My fiancé knew to order our all day ride passes before online and saved us some money. (The tickets pre-purchased were 50 for 2 instead of 60). Barbara who works for the fair was very nice and printed our tickets for us since we don't have a printer and we got in with ease. All the rides were up and running with ZERO lines so we road each one 4-5 times. It was amazing. I had an awesome time.Yes it's not the state fair, so it's small. But we anticipated this before arrival so maybe that's why we weren't as impressed.There were quite a few shows, my favorite ones being the dance company performances, the magic show (where I got to participate as the assistant), the BMX show (super legit!) and the free petting zoo. Alpacas are now my favorite animal...even though they can be a little aggressive if you have food.I was really inpressed with the award art ranging from Kindergarden to High School students. I wish I was that talented! There weren't as many food vendors or food variety as I would of liked, but we had 4 dollar nachos which reminded me most of 7-11 nachos. Haha there were plenty of beer stands where you could order a 6 dollar beer, with the option of having a Kiltlifter which was cool for me to see that they were supporting local breweries. The vendors can be obnoxiously aggressive, but I think that that's pretty standard at any fair.

What a HUGE WASTE OF OUR TIME!!! Our kid is off from school because his classroom flooded so my hubby took the day off and we had big plans to enjoy ourselves at the County Fair. Well...the rides DON'T OPEN UNTIL 4:00 late afternoon!!!!!! Our kid was super excited about riding rides and I was toting along my camera to make awesome memories! NOT!!!! Imagine the disappointment of a 7 year old when all he gets to do is look at sheep and watch a bike show and a diving show when he planned on RIDING THE RIDES!!!!! I was on the website SEVERAL TIMES and it was NOT obvious that the rides would not be operable until 4:00!!!! We could have made much better plans for the day had we been aware!!Oh, please not that you will pay $8.00 to park and you will not find out that the rides are not operable until you enter the rideless fair!!

We really had a good time! I took my 7 year old granddaughter. The lines were much shorter until evening. The food places were really good especially Rose's. The ride attendants were very friendly and the shows were fun.

If you're going to host a state fair that brings in thousands at a time, make sure there is ample parking for all!! Waited 45+ minutes in a line of traffic just to find out all the lots are all full... waste of time!

The county fair is happening right now. It runs annually in April for 4 days (Wed,Thurs,Fri,Sat) and is free if you get in before 3 PM every day except Saturday. Just go when it opens (10 AM) when it's cooler with alot less people. I first went in 2013 just to look around on my spare time. Of course, it's like a mini state fair or big carnival (with better-looking people minus the mullets(ugh)). Just go on a weekday where it feels more family-oriented than, ummm, sketchy... They have the usual: petting zoo (just be careful with the assertive ones (commonly goats) who might nibble on your shirt), rides, fair foods, 4-H displays & some hobby demos inside the exhibit buildings, and small shows here & there on the grounds in the categories of biker show, magician, wildlife lecture (i.e. kangaroo), and other show-off-y type entertainment- likely in the evening. Overall, this is just the type of neighborhood outing to attend with your BFF or honey or your kids to have a laugh in each other's company or for photo ops. Just have fun :)

Tiny homes show is a ripoff, 8 tiny homes, 2 decent ones with 30+ minutes wait time.The other 6 are fluff up container vans.If you want to see a $10,000-$15,000 spa this is the place to go. Bring lots of water, sunblock and reading materials for the waiting in line b.s. starting at getting your $8/person ticket right after paying $8 parking fee.