Weekend: LA County Fair Opens

Trot to Pomona for outrageous snacking, sweet piggies, bulb-blinky rides.

Los Angeles County Fair: How does one approach what's often called "the largest county fair in the nation" without feeling a tad overwhelmed? Finding that first thing you're going to do, when you stroll through the gate is essential: the Ferris wheel, the baby rabbits, the deep-fried guacamole, the quilt competition, the pig races, the wine tasting, the Luminasia lights, and a Pink's hot dog are some of your choices. Of course, there are about 98,863 other things to do at the venerable Pomona party, so, yeah, you'll probably be overwhelmed, a tad. That's normal. It's on Sept. 4 through 27, most days (check the schedule).

LA County Fair: Schedules, Events

Fiesta Hermosa: If you're standing in the middle of this beach-close, art-mondo, music-jamming, sundresses-and-sunglasses affair, you can bet one of two things: It's either Memorial Day Weekend or Labor Day Weekend. Hint: This go-around is Labor Day Weekend, lest you forget what end of the summer you're on, and the free crafty foodie sunshine-laden lark will spread out over all three days (that's Sept. 5 through 7). It started in 1972 and grew, grew, grew into a confab that opens and caps the beachiest season of the year.

The Taste: So many nibbles, and just three days to enjoy them all, or at least as many as you can. The LA Times throws a fabulous food party each year, in a fabulous location: The backlot of Paramount Pictures. Local chefs, local writers, and local lovers of all things cooked/baked/poured shall show up for demos, brunches, cocktail happenings, and a whole lot of biting into small squares/hunks of savory/sweet things. Dates? Sept. 4-6

LA River Fishing Derby: When Off Tha' Hook, a bring-your-pole day out at the LA River, debuted in 2014, some people guffawed at the idea of a homespun fishing derby happening along the banks of our urban waterway. They're guffawing no more: Several sizable bass and carp were caught, and then returned to the water. It's a fun day out, yes, that supports the Friends of the LA River, but it also helps biologists understand more about the fish that call the river home. Saturday, Sept. 5 

Art Deco Festival: Time machines are probably being tinkered with, at this very moment, in various top-secret labs around the planet, but you only need to get to the Queen Mary over Labor Day Weekend if you want to get to the 1930s. That was the decade that the famous ocean-liner debuted, and fans of vintage everything -- dress, architecture, cocktails, music -- make for the ship to glimpse that long-ago time once again. Got your pin curls setting? Then boop-boop to Long Beach from Sept. 4 through 7.

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