OC Fair 2025: Dates, Tickets, Must-Try Foods & Can’t-Miss Concerts at Orange County’s Biggest Summer Event

The midway lights are about to flip on in Costa Mesa as the OC Fair gears up for its 2025 run, inviting Southern Californians to “Find Your Happy” from July 18 through August 17, Wednesdays to Sundays. Organizers promise a bigger-than-ever celebration after last year’s 1.13 million attendance surge, with admission-included concerts, boundary-pushing food, and wallet-friendly transit options that make ditching the car easier than ever. New eats steal the spotlight each summer, and 2025’s lineup borders on outrageous. Bacon Nation debuts bacon-flavored cotton candy wrapped around a hunk of smoked pork belly, while Chicken Charlie’s skewers alternating mozzarella and meatballs before dunking the whole kebab in golden batter. Fans of mash-ups can chase a lobster mac-and-cheese cone with a tres leches cinnamon roll, scoop “ice-cream nachos” made from crushed waffle cones, or cool off with a sky-blue raspberry Dole Whip. Vegetarian fairgoers, meanwhile, can grab cactus-filled nopales tacos from Pepe’s Mariscos. Beyond the deep fryer, the Toyota Summer Concert Series brings 71 shows across Pacific Amphitheatre, The Hangar, and Action Sports Arena, with opening-weekend headliners George Thorogood & The Destroyers, Foghat, ABBA LA, Bee Gees Gold and The Psychedelic Furs. Every performance ticket includes same-day fair admission, so music lovers can hop from the stage to the giant Ferris wheel without paying twice. Planning ahead pays off. Daily attendance caps mean weekend slots often sell out; buying dated e-tix online guarantees entry and locks in the lowest price. Families can trim costs further with the Every Day Passport for unlimited visits, $5 food sampler days, and free exhibits ranging from blue-ribbon livestock to the air-conditioned art hall. Travelers on a budget should look to OCTA’s OC Fair Express, which returns with $4 round-trip bus rides from nine county park-and-rides and delivers riders to the fair’s front gate—with a $4 admission coupon to boot. Traffic-savvy locals recommend arriving before noon to score $14 on-site parking, then pivoting to shaded Centennial Farm during the afternoon heat. Night-owls can flip that script: roll in after 5 p.m. for cooler temps, neon-lit carnival rides, and sunset sets in the beer garden. Whatever your schedule, remember the fairgrounds’ no-smoking, no-vaping rule and leave drones, outside alcohol, and pets (service animals excepted) at home. Want to be part of the show instead of just watching it? Community entertainment, vendor, and competition applications are now open for local bands, artisans, bakers, and green-thumbed growers chasing those coveted blue ribbons. From bacon-wrapped burritos to chart-topping nostalgia acts, the 135-year-old Orange County Fair keeps reinventing itself while preserving the summer-vacation magic that first drew crowds in 1890. Grab your tickets early, map your must-eat bites, and clear space on your camera roll—because the happiest place in Orange County won’t wait until December this year.