South San Francisco, CA January 25, 2022 Press Release
The San Mateo County Event Center and Fair are pleased to announce the achievement of 32 awards from the Western Fairs Association (WFA).
“We are proud to be recognized as one of the leading fairs in the country,” said Dana Stoehr, CEO of the San Mateo County Event Center and Fair. “The Fair strives to represent its entire community, and in recent years has taken multiple steps to do so: Family Pride Day, Pacific Islands Day, The American History Museum, and Día de la Feria are a few examples of our efforts.”
“All of these awards validate how much work our staff puts into the fair each year,” Stoehr continued. “We are honored to be recognized amongst our peers in the Fair industry.” We congratulate California Fairs, who have worked so hard to support their communities in times of crisis, especially over these last unprecedented 23 months, while at the same time creatively driving business opportunities and bringing joy to our communities through hosting our annual Fairs.”
“The Fair received the most awards given to a single fair in 2021, receiving 20 First Place and 12 Second Place awards.” said Justin Aquino, Fair Manager.
First Place:
- New Sponsorship
- Single Foreign Language Radio Ad
- Give it Your Best Shot-Exhibits
- Volunteers
- New Fair time Event, Exhibit or Program (Judges Choice)
- New Children’s Program
- Give it Your Best Shot- Carnival
- Fair Program/Schedule
- New Cultural Program (Judges Choice)
- Year-Round Logo (Judges Choice)
- Single Television Ad
- Theme Program
- Overall Fair Marketing Campaign
- Give it Your Best Shot- Animals (Award of Excellence)
- Give it Your Best Shot-Entertainment
- Television Ad Series
- Virtual and Live Auctions
- Non-Profits (Judges Choice)
- Interim Events (Judges Choice)
- Give or Your Best Shot-Carnival (Award of Excellence, Second Best Overall Entry)
Second Place:
- Give it Your Best Shot-People at the Fair
- Agricultural Programming
- Community Outreach
- Fair Logo
- Single Radio Ad
- Emergency Response Venues
- Give it Your Best Shot-People at the Fair
- Special Event Logo
- Fair Commemorative Poster
- Give it Your Best Shot-Animals
- Give it Your Best Shot-Community Outreach
- Give it Your Best Shot- Entertainment
The San Mateo Fair and its exhibits return June 4th-12th, 2022. Fairgoers can expect to see the American History Museum again, along with carnival rides, farm animals, delicious food from around the world, and nightly outdoor concerts.
ABOUT THE SAN MATEO COUNTY EVENTS CENTER: The San Mateo County Event Center hosts over a million visitors annually, hosting very large events such as the San Mateo County Fair and Maker Faire, as well as corporate events, consumer shows, festivals and community events. The San Mateo County Event Center is also a proud sponsor of many community events such as Samaritan House Holiday Gift Drive, Seniors on the Move, community job fairs, and emergency services training.
For the past year, the San Mateo County Events Center has been unable to host most events, but instead played a vital role in protecting our health care workers and most vulnerable populations by serving as a COVID-19 testing site, operations hub and supply center, 250-bed temporary overflow hospital, and vaccine distribution center for the San Francisco Bay Area. To date, the Event Center has administered 250,000 COVID-19 tests and vaccinated more than 90,000 individuals.
ABOUT THE WESTERN FAIRS ASSOCIATION: Founded in 1922 and incorporated in 1945, Western Fairs Association (WFA) is a nonprofit trade association serving the fair industry throughout the western United States and Canada. The association’s primary purpose is to assist in maintaining the highest professional standards within the fair industry through a voluntary network of individuals and organizations. The primary objective of Western Fairs Association is to promote the prosperity of fairs through educational activities, training programs and legislative advocacy.
Currently Western Fairs serves more than 800 members, representing fair-related businesses, fair management, fair board directors, festivals and industry associations. This membership is represented by a 21-member elected board of directors that governs the activities and policies of the association.