Most years, the Yuma County Fairgrounds means one thing to most people: the spring fair, five days in late March or early April when the carnival lights go up and everyone in town ends up there at least once. This year is different. Between September 11 and October 18, the same 100-acre complex off Pacific Avenue is running five separate public events, each with its own crowd, its own gate, and in one case a brand-new track nobody has raced on before. If you only know the fairgrounds as a place you visit once a year, this fall is asking you to rethink that.
The five events land almost exactly a week apart, which means the fairgrounds has quietly stopped being an annual destination and started acting like a recurring fixture on the local calendar. Here's the run, in order, and what each one is actually for.
Five Weekends, Five Different Reasons to Show Up
- September 11 to 13: The 3rd Annual Rollin' Ol' School Yuma Tattoo Fest & Car Show
- September 19: Jordan World Circus, one night only
- September 26: Monster Truck Nitro Tour, two shows
- October 3: Off The Wall RC Drag Racing, a brand-new event on a brand-new track
- October 16 to 18: The 5th Annual Yuma County Fall Fest, capped by the Demolition Derby
None of these overlap with the fairgrounds' actual county fair, which is a spring event. That distinction matters more than it sounds like it should, because it explains why the venue can pull off a stretch like this at all.
Ink, Chrome, and a Free Day for Veterans
The weekend opens with something that has nothing to do with rides or livestock. The Rollin' Ol' School Yuma Tattoo Fest & Car Show is in its third year, and it runs a full three days: gates open Friday, September 11 from 2 to 10 p.m., Saturday brings vehicle load-in from 3 to 5 p.m. followed by the car show itself from 6 to 10 p.m., and Sunday wraps with a final contest and ceremony from 2 to 5 p.m. Tattoo artists, custom cars, lowriders, engravers, and pinstripers all share the grounds for one weekend.
One detail worth knowing before you go: tickets for this event are sold on-site only, so there's no pre-buying your way in from your phone the night before. Active duty military and veterans get in free, but only on opening day, Friday the 11th.
One Night Under the Big Top
A week later, the tone flips completely. Jordan World Circus rolls into the fairgrounds' main stage for a single performance on Saturday, September 19, with doors opening at 7 p.m. Presale tickets start at $25. The entrance for this one is off Pacific Avenue, the same street the fairgrounds fronts, and it's a one-night booking, so there's no second chance if you miss it.
The Grounds Shake Twice on the Same Saturday
Seven days after the circus packs up, the Monster Truck Nitro Tour takes over with two full shows on Saturday, September 26, one at noon and one at 7 p.m. This is the event where the entrance changes on you. Instead of Pacific Avenue, you'll come in off 2½ E, and gates open an hour before each show. If you've been to the fairgrounds before and assumed you know which gate to use, this is the weekend that assumption stops working.
A New Track Nobody Has Raced On Yet
October opens with something the fairgrounds has never hosted before. Off The Wall RC Drag Racing makes its debut on Saturday, October 3, with racing starting at 10 a.m. on a brand-new paved surface. It's a small, easy detail to miss in a lineup full of louder names like monster trucks and circuses, but it says something about where the venue is headed. New pavement is not the kind of thing a facility puts down for a single afternoon, which makes this debut worth watching for whether it becomes a repeat booking next year.
The Fair You Already Know, Six Months Off Schedule
The run closes with the event most residents already have some memory of, just not in the season they expect it. The 5th Annual Fall Fest takes over the fairgrounds October 16 through 18. It's easy to confuse this with the county fair itself, but they're two different flagship events run by the same organization, one in spring and one in fall, and the Fall Fest has grown enough in five years to earn its own identity.
The centerpiece is the Demolition Derby, held Sunday at 7 p.m. in the grandstands. Seating is limited, and the fairgrounds' own advice is straightforward: come early if you want a seat. One practical note for anyone buying tickets ahead of time: Fall Fest admission tickets are sold separately from ride tickets. Admission gets you in the gate. Rides are their own purchase.
Grandstand seating for the derby fills fast. If a seat matters to you more than flexibility, plan to arrive well before 7 p.m., not right at it.
Same Complex, Different Gate Every Time
Put the five weekends side by side and a pattern shows up that a single event listing would never reveal on its own. The tattoo fest and car show, the circus, the monster trucks, the RC debut, and the Fall Fest are not five versions of the same night out. They're five different audiences using the same address on five different Saturdays, and at least twice this fall, they're using two different physical entrances to get there. The circus uses the gate off Pacific Avenue. The monster trucks use the gate off 2½ E. If you're the kind of person who shows up on autopilot because you've been to the fairgrounds before, this fall is the season to actually check which entrance the event you're attending is using before you leave the house.
Why This Fall Looks Different From Last Fall
The fairgrounds describes itself as a year-round facility that hosts more than 300 events annually, everything from private parties to touring shows to livestock exhibitions. Most of those 300 pass without much notice from anyone who isn't directly involved. What makes this particular six-week stretch worth mapping out is the concentration. Instead of one flagship weekend and a scattering of smaller bookings across twelve months, the fairgrounds has stacked five distinct, publicly promoted events into a run short enough that a resident could plausibly attend all five without much planning at all. That's not how the venue has typically operated, and it's a reasonable bet that if this fall's slate draws a crowd, next fall's will look similar or bigger.
For anyone who has lived in Yuma long enough to think of the fairgrounds as a once-a-year stop, this is the season that quietly changes that. Five different reasons, five different Saturdays, and in a few cases, five different gates to remember.
Aracely and Wally know this stretch of Yuma well, and they're always glad to talk about what's happening around town, whether you're settling in or you've been here for years. If you ever want to talk about homes in the neighborhoods near the fairgrounds or anywhere else in Yuma County, reach out to Aracely & Wally at ABC Group anytime.
