The 134th annual Cloverdale Citrus Fair spanned Feb. 13th to the 16th and two holidays. One hundred and thirty-four years is a lot of history, especially in a country that is only celebrating its 250th birthday. Founded in 1892, Cloverdale was the first fair chartered by the State of California. Coming in the winter makes it the first California Fair of the year, every year. KZST radio describes it as “A delightful celebration of past and present with an eye on the future,” which is an accurate assessment. This year’s theme, “Celebrating America 250 years — Then and Now,” reminds us that the Bicentennial is now a full 50 years behind us. Time Flies.
It is believed that a man named George E. Baer, one time editor of the long running Cloverdale Reveille, spearheaded the effort to create the fair. It was intended to promote Cloverdale and Sonoma County as great citrus growing country. It was even claimed that grapefruit grown in Cloverdale could ripen two months ahead of that grown by competitors in Southern California. By the 1920s such hopes had been dimmed by a few years of heavy frost, but the Fair marched on. An interesting side note is the similarity between the Mendocino Fair and Apple Show in Boonville and the Cloverdale Citrus Fair as both have outlived their original purpose but happily thrive. In all those years Cloverdale has missed only three years: once because the Pan Pacific Exposition of 1915 got all the State Fair funds, then again for shortages in WW1 in 1918 and WW2 in 1944. Even during the Pandemic they didn’t miss a beat by creating a drive-thru “Food Frenzy,” outdoor exhibits and parade floats.
The admission fee is modest and on some days for some people Free. Friday is Senior Day and Monday is Kid’s Day — when 62 and older and 12 and under FREE. On other days there’s a $12 general admission for adults and $7 for kids, a bargain.
Lots of special events were scheduled during the four days of the Fair. Wine Tasting was ongoing, of course. Both the Commercial building and the Exhibition Display Hall were open continuously. Really special was the “Lily and Oran Orange” contest featuring 3-5 year olds in what was described as a “cuteness overload.” Not to be outdone, Monday hosted a “Baby Derby” with adorable very small crawlers in diapers racing to a finish line. Bingo was sponsored by the Cloverdale Senior Multipurpose Center. There were two days of orange juice squeezing contests along with both orange and lemon delight dessert contests. The animal barns and livestock events were not as numerous as at some fairs, but there were Junior Poultry, Pygmy Goat, Rabbit and Dog shows. A Ballet Folklorico troupe, “Ballet Legado de mi Alegria,” performed both outdoors and in the auditorium.
The Commercial exhibits building had a crazy mishmash of fancy knives, rain gutter guards, glittery jewelry, quick portrait drawing artists and tasty treats. The Exhibition Building, always my favorite, was crammed with high quality creative output. The quilts alone were worth the price of admission. I loved one whimsical quilt that sported three roller-skating dinosaurs. There were also lots of elegant art quilts on display plus two quilt guild tables with quilters who could answer any question.
The variety is always surprising. One Anderson Valley resident who used the name “Bunny Bill” on all his entry tags (presumably to elude those pesky citrus exhibitor paparazzi) won numerous blue ribbons for his produce grown in the Navarro highlands.
Other entries of note: a watercolor portrait of a very buxom cowgirl with admirable cleavage and a pencil portrait titled, “Tough Guy” by a Cloverdale High School student that could have come right out of a Martin Scorsese movie. There was a finely stitched tote bag that read, “Be the reason someone smiles today.” Lots of cakes and other baked goodies were appetizingly displayed.
The photography entered in fairs is always especially fine. Three pictures I really loved; a mother cow licking her new born calf, an Amish farmer “seeding” as he drove a four abreast horse team and a snapshot of a Chinese couple holding hands and looking at each other with “the eyes of love.” And there was so much more.
Live music was presented every day by eight local bands. The retro “Poyntless Sisters” is an all “girl” band featuring infectious dance music from the 50s forward. For an extra $15 you could hear Max Vogel and his band’s country, folk and rock “Heart Felt Music” in the auditorium. Also on the bill were Gas Money, Court N’ Disaster, Funky Dozen, Blues Burners, Clave MC and a teen band featuring regional Mexican music, Los Magos de California.
I didn’t see the parade but heard it was a really good one. Many local businesses including the Grocery Outlet, Reusuer, Ace Hardware, Empower Dance and Fitness and Papa’s Pizza help sponsor the Fair. The Fair Board awarded checks to many local clubs and organizations for their participation. In 2025 approximately 10,000 people attended which for a town of approximately 8,800 is pretty darn good. If you haven’t attended, think about going next year. You don’t have to be a Cloverdale resident or even a Sonoma County resident to enter an exhibit. There is a lot of joy to be found. The kids tumbling off the rides, smiling, hooting and hollering heartily attest to that.
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