Opening day of the Sonoma County Fair is Thursday, August 7 but just the day before from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm is a flower show preview party called Floral Fandango, A Global Celebration, an exclusive first look.

Held at the 28,000-square-feet Hall of Flowers, it’s the largest flower show on the West Coast, with Sonoma County the only fair in the United States to have such a grand themed display of this kind.

This year will have displays representing international festivals from Mardi Gras and Oktoberfest to Burning Man and Dia de los Muertos, designed by Greg Duncan. Adult and youth floriculture and horticulture entries like cut flowers, floral arrangements, potted plants, and wheelbarrow gardens will be displayed in the Garden Building.

Along the years themes have shown great creativity. In 1996 it was Rollin’ on the River, inspired by the “French Quarter, the red paddle wheel of a river boat, the hidden gardens behind houses near the French Quarter, the Mardis Gras feeling, oversize jesters being paraded around, the docks along the Mississippi River, the Oak Alley Plantation, the Atchafalaya Basin…” as the Press Democrat described.

Duncan also designed the Hall of Flowers that year, creating a version of the Mississippi River through the Hall, one of three main water features.

A theater arts graduate of Sonoma State University, he first attended the fair in 1970 at 19 years old. Duncan became Hall of Flowers director 25 years later in 1995 in the midst of his career as a professional set designer, replacing longtime director Jacquelyn Giuffre. His first year’s theme was “The Spirit of the Northwest,” dedicated to Giuffre, with log cabins and waterfalls amidst the flowers, with a winning display that featured an old lumber saw and rusty jeep.

Among Duncan’s non-fair-related achievements was designing the Lahaina Wax Museum in Maui and winning an Emmy Award for designing the set for PBS’s “Dr. Science’s National Science Test.” He also designed the midway for many years at the Los Angeles Fair, created the Walrus Experience exhibit at Marine World, and made monsters for fun houses. He ran a company called Scenic Designs that also built western film settings and such for movies.

The Hall of Flowers and it’s flower show, a focus of the fair since 1952, will also honor Pat Alexander this year, a “fair-lifer” who has taken part since the 1960s.

Alexander grew up in Kenwood and showed steers for many years before working for the Harvest Fair with Saralee McClelland Kunde, eventually running the livestock show at Grand National. She was on the Fair Board from 1989 through 2000. Her connection to the Hall of Flowers came as a 4-H garden leader, growing flowers for the annual plant sale to raise money. Alexander is also credited with bringing Kenwood’s longstanding Fourth of July Pillow Fights to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

As for the preview, the $50 ticket proceeds (must be 21) go to provide scholarships for local students studying agriculture. Otherwise, entry is free with fair admission. The annual plant sale will take place Monday, August 17 beginning at 7 am through 1 pm with no price of admission and free parking.

The celebration of farming continues on Farmers Day at the Fair Sunday, August 9, when the local community comes together to celebrate Sonoma County agriculture with a live Blacksmith Demonstration and other fun, from tractor races to calf roping and mutton busting for kids. A pig scramble is also planned.

Check it all out and more August 7-16, a Sonoma County tradition since 1936.

Photo By: The Press Democrat