Weekend: Squeal, It's the LA County Fair

Hello, deep-fried cheesecake, fast pigs, big concerts, and midway nights.

LA County Fair: If you've been going to this mega everything-stravaganza in Pomona since its founding, well, let us wish you an early 100th birthday. You're not quite there yet, nor is what's called "the largest county fair in the nation," but 2022 is coming up fast. But there's plenty to do from Aug. 30-Sept. 22 as the #FairGoesPop, including concerts (Juanes and Chicago are on the bill), Auto Alley, the Halloween Super Show, and so many critters to coo over. As for the food? Please. You know it'll be deep-fried or dusted in sprinkles or probably both and there may be Pop Rocks or cotton candy involved. The fair is closed Mondays and Tuesday, except for Labor Day.

Plaza for All Celebration: Get an eyeful, an earful, and a heartful of the newly renovated Music Center Plaza, with its new restaurant and new wine bar and new outdoor LED screens at this free-for-all party. The 4 to 7 p.m. event will lend plenty of spirit, and voice, too, to Aug. 31, when Big Sing 2019, "a giant community sing-along," takes place. Need more Music Center Plaza in your world? There's a free Splish Splash Plaza Bash on Sept. 1, with games and kid-cool happenings aplenty.

Fleet Week: A free tour of a working military ship? As opportunities go, this is a rare one, but lots of locals will jump into just such an event at this annual celebration of U.S. Sea Services. A number of Navy and Coast Guard ships will call upon the Port of Los Angeles over Labor Day Weekend, but if you'd like one of those gratis tours, arrive early; they're very popular. Concerts, aerial demos, a STEM Expo for the young'uns, the Festival of Sail, the Navy Leap Frogs Parachute Jump, a Veterans Village, and several more haps are happening on the full-to-bursting schedule. 

Broad Fest: The pay-nothing good times continue, on Sunday, Sept. 1, at Santa Monica's Broad Stage. You can guess, from the location, that there'll be cultural treats in store, and you'd be correct. On the schedule of this annual happening, which will dance/sing/frolic from 2 to 7 p.m.? Contemporary dance from Viver Brasil, the vintage-tinged vibes of She Sings She Swings, and the lively Latin sounds of Boogaloo Assassins. A Family Dance Jam, Paint:Lab, tours of the Broad Stage, and a veritable bouquet of gotta-try-that cool things are on the roster.

Alfresco Affairs: The two long weekends that bookend the summer season — that would be Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend — have become known for a large-scale festival that pops up near the ocean, in Hermosa Beach. That would be Fiesta Hermosa, and it is ready to booth-it-up, and ice-cream-it-up, and offer summer's-ending pleasures, for free, from Aug. 31-Sept. 2. And at Santa Anita Park? Bring your quirky cravings, and your camera, too, for 626 Night Market is heading into its last weekend of 2019. Why the camera? The food is oh-so-photographable. Take an appetite-tempting look for yourself.

Future x Sounds LA: Keeping watch for a fresh way to savor straight-from-tomorrow sounds and cultural goodness? Plenty of us are doing just that. And this one-night-only affair at the John Anson Ford Theatre on Aug. 31 will deliver so much of that goodness via a variety of musical acts. Look for artist Lalah Hathaway to perform, as well as Justus West, Anna Wise, DJ BATTLECAT, and Gwen Bunn. A good goal of the event? To inspire change, questioning, and dialogue. Start here for your tickets. 

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us