Fair Officials: “Be cautious” when buying fair tickets

The 66th Annual Yuma County Fair is just around the corner. The food, rides, and family fun return to the Yuma County Fairgrounds.

It’s a year in the making for fair officials. This year, they’re adding new tribute bands to the entertainment line-up, including a Bee Gees and Tom Petty tribute band.

“It’s a year-round process… we really look at all of our vendors, entertainment,” Yuma County Fair General Manager, Eric Wofford said.

That includes preparing to sell the pre-sale ride tickets.

“Our pre-sale ride tickets… unfortunately, we are sold-out. We ended up with about 3,000 more books than last year, we really advertise on social media,” Wofford said.

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The pre-sale ride tickets are a hot commodity for fair-goers, who resort to websites like Craigslist, or Facebook groups to find tickets once they’re sold-out.

Consumers could end up paying the price in the end, thanks to what is known as “scalping”.

Scalping is selling a ticket for a popular event at a higher price than the official one, and is legal in the state of Arizona. The only restrictions placed on scalping is prohibiting the sale of tickets for more than face value within 200 feet of a venue.

Wofford warns consumers to be more aware of buying tickets online.

“I want to warn people that go out and try to buy pre-sale ride tickets on Yuma Exchange or Craiglist, just be cautious. Pay face value for those tickets because if you don’t they’re not a discount value anymore,” Wofford added.

Fair officials said that last year more than 165,000 people attended and they’re looking for more people to attend this year.

For admission prices, you can visit the fair website.

The Yuma County Fair will be held from April 3rd-8th, 2018.