Music Acts Shifted to the Infield This Year

Music lovers who are accustomed to heading straight for the Grandstand Building to attend the fair’s nightly Grandstand Stage concerts will have to take a detour this year to the infield of the race track.

Continuing construction of the west side of the Grandstand Building has forced fair officials to relocate the traditional concert location, but similar seating arrangements and rules will still apply, said fair spokeswoman Diane Scholfield.

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. and are free with fair admission, but, because seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, there is no guaranteed admission to the show. When capacity, about 8,000 people, is reached, the stage area will be closed.

Scholfield says that, even after years of working for the fair, she finds it hard to predict when fair-goers should make their move toward the concert area to assure a seat.

“Quite frankly, it depends on how badly people want to see the act,” Scholfield said. “Sometimes people will line up at 3 or 4 in the afternoon.”

“In general, if people get there by 6 p.m. when we begin open seating, they can get in and get a seat,” she said. “It’s the people who come between 7 and 7:30 who expect to walk in who will not get a seat. It’s a very rough guess, it depends on which acts are really popular.”

As far as popularity goes, this year’s musical line up may not contain the headliners from years past, but Scholfield says that each musical act is well known and appreciated in its own genre.

“In past years, we’ve had Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt and John Denver, household names that we don’t have this year, but we have some entertainers that are very, very well known in their own music fields and will draw very well.”

Although held in the race track’s infield this year, the concerts are still being called Grandstand Stage concerts and will be listed as such in fair programs.

In addition to the entertainment planned for the Grandstand Stage, more than 300 musical and dance groups from around the county are scheduled to perform elsewhere on the fairgrounds. They will appear on the Community Stage, O’Brien Stage, Paddock Stage, Fiesta Stage, Flower Show Stage, Pipsqueak Plaza and Pavilion Stage.

Program guides distributed at the fair will list daily performers and show times.

Here are the acts booked for the Grandstand Stage:

John Kay & Steppenwolf perform rock music on Tuesday, June 16.

Larry Carlton on his guitar performs pop and jazz on Wednesday, June 17.

Atlantic Starr performs pop and R&B; on Thursday, June 18

The Charlie Daniels Band performs country on Friday, June 19.

RTZ performs rock on Saturday, June 20.

Carman performs gospel on Sunday, June 21.

Billy Dean performs country on Monday, June 22.

Peabo Bryson performs urban pop on Tuesday, June 23.

Shanice performs pop on Wednesday, June 24.

Frankie Valli performs nostalgic pop on Thursday, June 25.

Sawyer Brown performs country tunes on Friday, June 26.

Richard Elliot on the saxophone performs up-tempo jazz on Saturday, June 27.

Gladys Knight performs soul on Sunday, June 28.

Gallagher performs comedy on Monday, June 29.

Gerardo performs Latin rap on Tuesday, June 30.

Ricky Van Shelton performs country on Wednesday, July 1.

Mary-Chapin Carpenter performs country on Thursday, July 2.

Richard Marx performs pop on Friday, July 3.

Paul Anka performs nostalgic pop on Saturday, July 4.

Little Joe y La Familia performs Tex-Mex Tejano on Sunday, July 5.