Help Kids Enjoy a Growing Adventure at the Fair!
The San Diego County Fair’s Plant*Grow*Eat program teaches children about agriculture and nutrition. The Don Diego Bus Program enables students from Title 1 elementary schools throughout the San Diego area to participate. For many children, this marks their first time to the Fairgrounds; for some, their first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean!
Each spring before the San Diego County Fair opens, eager-eyed students hop off their buses at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and are warmly welcomed by Fair staff, volunteers and generous Don Diego bus sponsors to their exclusive visit at the Farm. Adventure awaits!
The kids encounter animals such as goats, bunnies, and ducklings; observe how corn, herbs, apples, and other edibles grow; learn about beneficial bugs and earthworms; and, at the end of their journey, became organic farmers. Plant*Grow*Eat staff give each child a small pot of soil, explain how to plant and nurture their radish seeds, and send them off with a ticket to return when the Fair opens.
Donors enjoy the day as much as the kids do. Del Mar Foundation leaders report, “Our organization is fortunate to have participated in this event for many years, and look forward to doing so in the future. We enjoy talking with the students. The beaming smiles on their faces the entire time they are at the event while gaining important information about agriculture and nutrition makes it all worth it.”
