"Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.
- Misty Copeland
Back in 2011, then Governor Edmund "Jerry" Brown cut funding to all of the California Fairgrounds in favor of other fiscal priorities. Our Fair Manager Brian Bullis foresaw difficult times ahead for the Mariposa County Fairgrounds, and the potentially imminent closure of this Mariposa County institution.
Brian reached out to the community in an effort to save the Fairgrounds. His idea was to establish a non-profit organization with no ties to the state in order to establish a source of funding for maintenance projects, and for other necessities that could no longer be done with formerly traditional revenue streams. Friends of the Fairgrounds was founded as a result of this effort.
Today our Board consists of eleven hardworking folks (see our Board page), and our membership page shows our organization is full of committed people who love our Fairgrounds.
Since our founding, Friends of the Fairgrounds, along with our amazing and incredibly generous community here in Mariposa County, has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the maintenance and upkeep of our beautiful Fairgrounds, which is the heart of Mariposa County.
Our membership fees and our fundraising events and donations are the source of all of this, and we invite you to attend our events, and if you are so moved, to join our effort.
Today, our beautiful, historic Fairgrounds are open and operating. In addition to our annual Fair, there are dozens of events each year at the Fairgrounds, including parties, weddings, meetings, camping, events for our 4H and FFA organizations, fund raising and celebrations for other non profit groups, base camps for emergency services, the state Mining and Mineral Museum and, of course, Friends of the Fairgrounds events. We recommend you keep an eye on the reader board at the Fairgrounds by the highway, on our Events page, and on the Fairground's website to find and share some of the great adventures we have in store.
If you'd like to host an event for your organization at the Fairgrounds, follow this link to get started. Our Fairgrounds is also an awesome camp site for out-of-towners wanting to visit Mariposa, and maybe Yosemite National Park. Jump here to learn more about that.
Please visit our Events page to see what great event is up next, and drop by our Store page to join us in our efforts! if you're looking for a gift, remember that Friends of the Fairgrounds memberships are a great choice, and if you would simply like to donate to a hard working non-profit, we'd appreciate that as well!
In the end, we're all about raising money. The Fairgrounds is our mission, and every dime we raise goes either to the Fairgrounds directly, or into an effort to raise more money for the Fairgrounds. Again, we invite you to join our organization, and to attend the events you'll find on our event calendar. If none of that is for you, please consider bouncing to the top of the page and clicking the "Donate" button to help us keep the Fairgrounds here for today, and for tomorrow! Friends of the Fairgrounds is a 501(c)3 organization, and donations are tax deductible. As a charitable organization, our financial records are, of course, available for review upon request.
If you have questions, you can email us, send us a message from our contact page, or stop by the Fairgrounds on the third Thursday of the month at 5:15pm. We'd love to chat with you.
-Codie Hart, President - Friends of the Fairgrounds