SAN DIEGO — This Fourth of July will look different from last year. The San Diego Police Department is expecting a lot of traffic and big crowds. One place to celebrate is at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar. It opened on June 11 on a smaller scale and fairgoers have to buy their tickets online before arriving.
“Previous years would be about 50- 60,000 people. Our highest day so far has been 21,000. But we’re really happy with that," said Ashley Colburn, San Diego County Fair.
Music, burgers, turkey legs, and kettle corn can all be found among the 40 food vendors instead of the usual 100.
Coming to the fair is an annual event for Adrianna Sanchez’s family. News 8 asked her what she noticed that is different about the fair this year.
“There’s not as much stuff as for the little kids and not as much food - stuff like that," said Adrianna.
But even with this smaller-scale fair, families are happy to be celebrating.
“It’s good to be out supporting businesses and helping the economy come back," said Carlos Sanchez, fairgoer.
In Carlsbad, Legoland will have a big fireworks show. Both of their hotels are sold out even though they are still monitoring capacity.
At the beaches, the San Diego Police Department is expecting big crowds. They said they will be out patrolling and enforcing the no alcohol law on the beach and watching for people who try to bring in illegal fireworks.
“We will not allow camping on the beach. You can’t come out on Friday and expect to camp the entire weekend, so pay attention to the parking closures," said Scott Wahl with SDPD.
Also bonfires are only allowed in the designated fire pits.
The show near La Jolla Cove was canceled but organizers are still fighting to get the show on.
The biggest show will be at the Big Bay Boom and to help people get there, MTS will be ramping up service.
There are still tickets available for the fair but fair organizers will not open up the grandstand to view the fireworks. People can see them from the rides and other areas.
"The reason we are so much smaller is because the Del Mar Fairgrounds was a vaccination station, so we were able to give that back to the community and be able to have these events again," said Colburn.
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