By admin 
The California State Fair kicked off the second weekend of its 17-day run this Saturday, with a stacked lineup of events for fair goers of all types.
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Indoor and outdoor events alike welcomed people from all corners of California, despite temperatures hovering in the mid-90s throughout the afternoon.
The California State Fair continues daily through Aug. 2, with nightly concerts featuring performers like Keith Sweat, Trace Adkins and Boyz II Men.
From a drag bingo fundraiser to a high-octane monster truck rally, here’s everything the State Fair had to offer on Saturday.
State Fair Pride Day
Rainbow flags and community pride were on full display at the fair Saturday, as the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce hosted the annual State Fair Pride Day for the first time.
“It’s humbling and quite incredible to represent our community here locally and statewide,” said Antionette Caruso, president of the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
The festivities didn’t only show support for the LGBTQ+ community across California, but they also raised money for local students through the Rainbow Chamber Foundation’s scholarship programs.
Three different scholarships — which are still accepting applicants for the 2026-27 academic year through Aug. 15 — support LGBTQ+ and allied students with educational funding and debt relief. Proceeds from ticket sales for the State Fair’s Pride Day festivities went toward supporting scholarships for up to three students, according to Caruso.
In the morning, the Sacramento Sirens cheer squad and the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus performed on the fairgrounds, before festivities headed indoors.
Once in the air conditioning, celebrants were treated to a drag bingo afternoon. Sacramento-based queens DoMe Moore, Aurora Lot Moore and Lita Taylor emceed the games and performed lip syncs during intermissions.
“We love to come out and show all our love and support,” said Sirens cheerleader Cristian Herrera. “Everyone’s just fun and open … we’re all about having fun, and it just feels like one big happy family.”
As implied by its name, drag queen bingo is not your nana’s bingo. The fast-paced games were loud and rowdy, with queens and Sirens cheerleaders ensuring every moment was punctuated with a joke or a unique cheer stunt. Whenever winners called bingo, they were paraded around the room in a feather boa while fellow participants pelted them with balled-up bingo sheets.
“Sacramento and California in general have grown so much to the acceptance, everybody can go out and be who they are, what they are and not be judged,” DoMe Moore said. “(With drag bingo) we raise money for local charities, and we give right back to the community.”
As part of the Rainbow Chamber’s 25th anniversary, the organization decked out the Grandstands Clubhouse event space in silver colors, with disco ball accessories throughout. After the bingo event, the venue turned into a disco dance party to close out Pride Day.
“(It feels) brilliant,” said Thomas Kane, president of the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber. “I’m just hoping next year when we do it again, we’ll have even more tickets.”
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Folks who missed out on the State Fair’s drag bingo night won’t be left out until next year — the Rainbow Chamber hosts drag bingo on the first Thursday of every month at Mango’s Sacramento.
Too many corn dogs, too little time
The California State Fair partakes annually in a beloved all-American tradition, with an arguably more challenging twist.
This year’s Milo’s Corn Dog Eating Contest featured 10 finalists who battled their way to the top in qualifying rounds earlier in the week. First time eating competitors up to professional corn dog chompers competed side-by-side on the stage.
Eaters had eight minutes to down as many dogs as possible, but unlike hot dog competitions, they were required to eat the corn dog breading at the same time as the sausage.
After a messy eight minutes, the remaining corn dog sticks and leftover food were tallied up for each contestant.
Molly Schuyler, famed eating competition pro, destroyed the competition and set a new all-time record, with 40.5 corn dogs downed.
“The secret is to get a good rhythm, get a good pace, stick with it, rinse and repeat for eight minutes,” said Dan Kennedy, Schuyler’s husband and a fellow competitive eater. Kennedy narrowly took second place to his wife with 39.5 corn dogs eaten.
“It’s not easy, but we like to entertain, we like to have fun,” Kennedy said.
For perspective, third place contestant Mirza Selmic ate 18 corn dogs, and the remaining competitors ate between eight and 13 dogs. In total, nearly 175 corn dogs were consumed between the 10 finalists.
Drifts and jumps on the dirt track
Against a Northern Californian sunset , a crew of monster truck racers showed off their skills at the former horse track at Cal Expo.
The cast of the Monster X tour brought their massive machines to the State Fair for a set of shows over the weekend . Wheelie contests, one-on-one races and freestyle trick events filled the air with engine revs and track dirt as the drivers precariously balanced, drifted and jumped the 10,000 pound vehicles.
Joining them was 11-year-old Bryce Seiver from Oregon, who drove the aptly named Juvenile Destruction, a miniature monster truck. His mother, Amanda Seiver, said the young driver has been racing drag cars and dirt bikes since he was 2 years old, but he only started monster truck racing just over a year ago.
During a brief intermission between events, members of the audience flooded the track, hoping for a chance to take a joyride on the Thunder monster truck.
“This was a really cool thing, I’m glad that kids and whoever wants to gets to experience (riding in a monster truck),” said Anthony Labbe, who managed to snag one of the first seats on the truck. “For just the experience and a little bit of time you get to go around, it seemed awesome.”
The Monster X trucks had a second showcase 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Michelob Ultra Grandstands on the eastern end of Cal Expo. Online tickets to the show — including fair admission — cost $32.50 plus fees for adults and $20 plus fees for children.
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This story was originally published July 26, 2026 at 10:21 AM.