JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The rides, the food and the games are back. The fair returns to Jacksonville for the 68th year.
“There’s something for everybody,” said Bill Olson, the president and CEO of the fair.
The Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair is opening Thursday night.
“New this year we have the sea lion splash, which is a sea lion show,” said Olson. “We also have the live shark encounter.”
The fair brings thousands back every year.
“We are hoping for around 200,000 throughout the 11 days,” said Olson.
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Olson said the Sunday after the Florida-Georgia game, they started setting up.
Olson said with this annual event growing into one of the largest fairs in our area, a future expansion is much needed.
But it won’t be at its old familiar location for too much longer.
The fair is set to move to the west side next to the Jacksonville Equestrian Center, and officially open there in 2025.
“So, we have this fair and then next year in the same location here,” said Olson.
Action News Jax first told you in April of 2022, when an affiliate of the Jacksonville Jaguars agreed to buy the current fairgrounds property.
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Meanwhile, a brand-new facility will be built on Jacksonville’s west side next to the Jacksonville equestrian center to accommodate the fair.
But the fair operations won’t move there until the spring of 2025, and the goal is to have the first fair at the new site that fall.
“I’m sure with the new fairgrounds we will have some kinks to work out, we won’t know exactly where everything is going to be, so we’ll need some time to get it ready,” said Olson.
As for this year’s fair downtown, it opens Thursday night at 5 p.m. It will run all the way through Sunday, Nov. 12.
JaxFair Information (jacksonvillefair.com)
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