PHOENIX — Change of plans: The 2021 Arizona State Fair will once again be held at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix.
The fair will be held Oct. 2 - 30, 2021, Wednesday - Sunday, according to Jen Yee, a spokesperson for the Arizona State Fairgrounds.
In March, the Arizona State Fairgrounds Board voted unexpectedly to move this year’s fair — called a “temporarily” move at the time — to the Gila River’s Wild Horse Pass development, near the Interstate 10 and Wild Horse Pass Blvd., which is just south of Phoenix.
At the time, the Governor’s Office said relocating the fair to Wild Horse Pass was necessary because it was larger and would allow for more social distancing amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the fairgrounds were operating as a COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinic at the time.
The clinic eventually closed and the fairgrounds, specifically Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, was most recently home to the Arizona Senate’s audit of the 2020 presidential election, which recently wrapped up.
In a news release on Thursday evening, the Arizona State Fair said the “inability to secure infrastructure” in time to hold the fair at Wild Horse Pass was the main reason it was moved back to Phoenix.
However, officials also said that they would continue to study and consider the potential of moving the 2022 State Fair to the Gila River Indian Community.
“We remain committed to working with the Gila River Indian Community to see if we can move the Fair to the Gila River Indian Reservation in 2022 in a manner that is mutually beneficial to both sides,” said Chairman Jonathan Lines, in a prepared statement.
