Festivals & Fairs Southern California 2019

Shortly after Orange County formed in 1889, the long-running fair began in Costa Mesa. It has since grown from a small, five-day community celebration to a 23-day festival that last year set attendance records with 1,470,636 visitors, a 10-percent attendance increase from 2017. The monthlong fair featured 35 sold-out performances at the Pacific Amphitheater, the Hangar, and Action Sports Arena. Through community programs, the fair collected more than 11,000 children’s books, 10,000 items of clothing, almost 9,000 cans of food, and 8,000 school supplies for local charities. Next: July 12-August 11, 2019

After a slight attendance drop in 2017, the fair began offering more discounts on tickets and food items. The efforts paid off, as the 2018 event saw a five-percent increase in attendance, drawing about 1.25 million people. The theme was “Get Your Kicks,” a tribute to Route 66, and food vendors offered on-theme items for $6.60. The fair first debuted in 1922 when it drew fewer than 50,000 visitors. Next: August 30-September 22, 2019

The Southern California desert event draws nearly 100,000 attendees for each of its six days; it’s the top-grossing music festival in the country. Goldenvoice produces the festival located in Indio, for which general admission and V.I.P. passes sell out annually. Parties, suites, and promotions hosted by brands take over the desert region stretching to Palm Springs, typically on the first weekend of the two. This year, highlights included headlining sets from Childish Gambino and Ariana Grande, plus an Easter performance from Kanye West and the festival’s first AR-equipped stage. Next: April 2020
See more: Coachella 2019: See Inside the Biggest Parties and Brand Activations

The 24-year-old event is billed as the nation's largest public literary festival, drawing 150,000 attendees and more than 500 authors and performers. The two-day event, which is free to the public on the University of Southern California campus, offers panels, demonstrations, and conversations alongside screenings, food, and music. This year’s event in April offered Spanish-language programming, a dedicated area for children, a spotlight on L.G.B.T.Q. authors, cooking demos, and VR/AR programming. Next: April 18-19, 2020

Goldenvoice’s 13-year-old country music festival serves as kind of an unofficial third weekend of Coachella; this year’s event in April even added Brent Bolthouse’s popular Neon Carnival late-night party, a long-running Coachella staple. The event, billed as the world’s highest-grossing country music festival, drew a record-breaking 80,000 people this year; headliners included Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, and Jason Aldean. Next: April 2020

The 35-year-old festival takes place annually on the last Sunday of September. Taking over a mile of the famous boulevard in Venice, the free neighborhood street party features 350 vendors, food trucks, kids’ rides and games, three beer gardens, and four stages for live music. The festival typically draws about 120,000 people and raises money for the Abbot Kinney Festival Association, which supports local organizations with an emphasis on youth, community, and the arts. Next: September 29, 2019

America’s first modern Renaissance fair opened in 1963 and has taken place annually ever since. The 23-acre party in Irwindale now draws roughly 20,000 people for each of its seven weekends in April and May; more than five million people from around the world have attended since its inception. The family-friendly gathering transports guests to the year 1574, with 13 stages of entertainment, more than 2,000 performers, and pub crawls, rides, arts and crafts, food vendors, and more. Next: April-May 2020

New to the list
Insomniac’s annual music festival, which takes place in San Bernardino, is quickly joining the ranks of the world's biggest EDM concerts. The event broke its own records for the 2019 edition in March: Single-day tickets sold out in less than 24 hours, and the two-day event drew an estimated 125,000 people. Organizers built buzz for the event by releasing a card game that gave a sneak peek at the year's lineup, which included artists Armin van Buuren, Aly & Fila, Deadmau5, and ZHU. The festival is known for its whimsical Alice in Wonderland-inspired stages, which in 2019 included the first-ever Mau5trap-hosted stage. Next: March 2020