The Monterey County Fair returns to the central coast

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION) The Monterey County Fair has returned to the central coast after a year-long hiatus brought on by the pandemic

Guests and performers alike say they're excited to come back.

"We’ve been kinda shut down because of COVID for the last couple of years and now it’s great to be back in front of a real audience. We love performing live and we love making people happy, we love seeing smiles out there and that’s what we got today so we’re really happy about the whole thing,” said a performer.

Others agree but say they were a little hesitant to bring the family out because of the Delta variant.

"It feels good to be back to some kind of normalcy but then again it’s a little iffy as far as bringing my kids out of the new pandemic…. variants but I think it’s a good thing," said Ron Manjares, a festival goer.

Last year, the fair was closed down due to COVID-19 so they've made a couple of changes this year to ensure that people have fun and stay safe.

"The modifications that we’ve done is increased out janitorial crew so there’s a lot of sanitizing going on throughout the day, not just our restrooms but of our high touch surfaces… We’ve also made an effort to socially distance a lot of our booth spaces," said Kelly Violini, CEO of Monterey County Fair.

All in all, people say they're happy to be out and about.

"It’s really nice to see people out you know cause when I moved out here, the streets were empty and nothing going on and it felt very disturbing. I would say so now it’s really nice," said Aisulu Seitova, a festival goer.

The festival goes on until September 6th.