Electrical fire leaves San Joaquin County Fairgrounds without power, raising concerns for future events

STOCKTON – An electrical fire at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds has left the majority of the facility without power for months, forcing some events to be canceled.
The 39th San Joaquin Asparagus Festival will still happen next weekend after coming up with a temporary fix to get power back up and running for the festival.
But the worry now is a long-term solution.
Ensuring the asparagus festival could still happen at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds has been nothing but challenging.
"So in early February, we had an electrical fire out in one of our transformers and switches, which has down power for majority of our campus," said Daniel Castillo, the CEO of the fairgrounds.
A key piece of infrastructure was completely destroyed, leaving most of the 250 acres of grounds without power for months.
"All of a sudden, the venue where you were going to have it doesn't have power, and so fairs don't make a lot of money to begin with," said Jeff Berry, program manager for California Construction Authority. "And now the fair here at San Joaquin had to go out and rent generators and diesel, bringing electricians to run all this stuff. So it was a huge expense."
On top of these expenses came concerns about future festivals and events at the fairgrounds.
"We put in a whole new power supply that you can see behind us, and as soon as PG&E finishes their work, we're going to be able to energize the fair and get them back online, just in time for the asparagus festival," Berry said.
But this comes at a cost. A temporary fix has a price tag of $250,000 and a permanent solution is nearly $2.2 million.
"Sometimes we can shoulder it, sometimes we can't," Castillo said. "And so this is just one of many issues that we see coming down the pipeline when it comes to the age infrastructure that has been here."
For a place that's essential to the community, the fairgrounds is asking for help.
"For us to be able to make sure that we are the place to go when a fire occurs, when a flood happens, to be a resiliency center, we need the support of the state, and we're happy with our friends at CFA who've been able to do what they can," Castillo said. "But we would, we would call on the governor's office and everybody to really get behind these fairgrounds because we are here for the state."
Castillo did want to emphasize it's not all doom and gloom.
The fairgrounds were recently on the brink of bankruptcy and potential closure. But now, they're in a period of growth thanks to the community, so they're excited to still host events like the asparagus festival.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

6 hours ago

• Yahoo

Procter & Gamble: 69 Years of Dividend Growth Fueled by Rising Cash Flow

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) is one of the best dividend stocks for a bear market. The company is a dividend powerhouse, having delivered consistent payouts for decades, driven by its reliable cash flow, which also supports future dividend growth. A happy couple viewing the products of this household and personal product company in a mass merchandiser store. In fiscal Q3 2025, The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) generated $3.7 billion in operating cash flow and reported $3.8 billion in net earnings. Its adjusted free cash flow productivity stood at 75%, a measure calculated by subtracting capital spending from operating cash flow and comparing it to net earnings. In the same quarter, The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) returned $3.8 billion to shareholders, $2.4 billion through dividends and $1.4 billion via share buybacks. In April, the company announced its 69th consecutive annual dividend increase. Impressively, it has paid a dividend every year since its incorporation in 1890, marking 135 straight years of shareholder payouts. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) is focusing on supply chain upgrades, digital improvements, and a portfolio restructuring to drive growth. The company expects steady earnings growth and is well-equipped to maintain its streak of dividend increases. Currently, it offers a quarterly dividend of $1.0568 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.68%, as of June 17. While we acknowledge the potential of PG as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure. None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Bloomberg

16 hours ago

• Bloomberg

A Vaping Victory for Big Tobacco Masks the Real Issue

On Friday, the US Supreme Court waded into the confusing, on-again, off-again effort by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate e-cigarettes ... and didn't get too far. In voting 7-2 to allow a suit by RJ Reynolds Vapor Company against the agency to continue, the justices ruled on a tricky procedural issue and, I think, got the answer right. The litigation is far from over, but recent scholarly work suggests that the ban itself might be a mistake. To understand the case, it's useful to review a bit of history. In 2000, the Supreme Court struck down the FDA's efforts to regulate most tobacco products. Nevertheless, in 2008, the agency began seizing e-cigarettes imported into the US. The following year, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which, among other things, required FDA approval before the marketing of any 'new' tobacco product. The courts swiftly held that the authority covered vaping devices. But rather than disrupt what had by then become a substantial market, the agency allowed companies to continue selling their e-cigarette products while it processed their applications.

Associated Press

a day ago

• Associated Press

Supreme court widens court options for vaping companies pushing back against FDA rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with e-cigarette companies on Friday in a ruling making it easier to sue over Food and Drug Administration decisions blocking their products from the multibillion-dollar vaping market. The 7-2 opinion comes as companies push back against a yearslong federal regulatory crackdown on electronic cigarettes. It's expected to give the companies more control over which judges hear lawsuits filed against the agency. The justices went the other way on vaping in an April decision, siding with the FDA in a ruling upholding a sweeping block on most sweet-flavored vapes instituted after a spike in youth vaping. The current case was filed by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., which had sold a line of popular berry and menthol-flavored vaping products before the agency started regulating the market under the Tobacco Control Act in 2016. The agency refused to authorize the company's Vuse Alto products, an order that 'sounded the death knell for a significant portion of the e-cigarette market,' Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion. The company is based in North Carolina and typically would have been limited to challenging the FDA in a court there or in the agency's home base of Washington. Instead, it joined forces with Texas businesses that sell the products and sued there. The conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the lawsuit to go forward, finding that anyone whose business is hurt by the FDA decision can sue. The agency appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that R.J. Reynolds was trying to find a court friendly to its arguments, a practice often called 'judge shopping.' The justices, though, found that the law does allow other businesses affected by the FDA decisions, like e-cigarette sellers, to sue in their home states. In a dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said she would have sided with the agency and limited where the cases can be filed. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called the majority decision disappointing, saying it would allow manufacturers to 'judge shop,' though it said the companies will still have to contend with the Supreme Court's April decision. Attorney Ryan Watson, who represented R.J. Reynolds, said that the court recognized that agency decisions can have devastating downstream effects on retailers and other businesses, and the decision 'ensures that the courthouse doors are not closed' to them. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of the Supreme Court at