Santa Cruz County Fair is coming back to the Central Coast in September

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION) Santa Cruz County Fair is coming back to the Central Coast in September. Last year was the first year in the fair's history to cancel the fair.

Anisa Velasco, a livestock exhibitor has been in showcases at the Santa Cruz County Fair before. This year, she won the Heritage Hog, an honor, and scholarship bestowed upon one person each year at the fair. When she learned she was going to get the opportunity to showcase her new lamb in this year's county fair and auction of the Heritage Hog, she was elated.

"I'm super excited because just getting to the finish line, you get an adrenaline rush when you're walking into the show ring. It's like focus, you're ready, let's go," said Velasco.

The CEO of the fairgrounds says that last year they decided not to hold the fair due to COVID. It was the first time in the fair's history that it was canceled, but it remained busy throughout the various drive-thru vaccinations and even serving as a shelter for victims of the CZU Fire in August.

"It was really challenging but we ran a lot of food giveaways, various COVID services, eventually vaccination clinics, and we, of course, had our big fire back in August. We had a tremendous amount of fire victims both animals and people that we supported for an extended period of time," said David Kegebein.

Typically, the fair sees around 70,000 people on average per week. For now. it's unclear whether the county fair will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test for these grand-scale events but Velasco is ready to attend this year's fair.

 "That everybody stays healthy especially and just that we have fun, everything's fair, we all get to show off what we worked hard for," said Velasco.

The county fair is scheduled for September 15-19.