Although Labor Day is seen as the traditional end of summer, fall doesn’t officially begin until Sept. 22, which means that there’s one more big event in town before summer finally winds down: San Diego Bayfair.
For those who aren’t familiar, San Diego Bayfair is a beach festival and powerboat competition on Mission Bay. This year’s event is set for Sept. 18-20, ending just a couple of days before autumn replaces summer.
As always, this year’s San Diego Bayfair features powerboat races, live music, a classic car show, food and drink vendors, U.S. Coast Guard demonstrations and more.
The event draws locals and powerboat fans from up and down the state as well as Arizona.
“We’ll have over 1,000 RVs that will come in,” organizer Gregg Mansfield told Times of San Diego. “We kind of become a mini city, so to speak, inside Mission Bay Park for this event.”
Mansfield said that part of the reason’s existence is to bring in visitors and revenue during a time when summer has already peaked, and some tourists are leaving San Diego and heading back home. In fact, one of the event’s biggest sponsors is the San Diego Tourism Marketing District, which this year provided $150,000 in funding.
“Our event helps attract people who come in and stay in hotel rooms,” Mansfield explained. “And so, we’re part of the city’s effort to help bring people in to spend nights in hotel rooms. We (also) sell RV spaces that are part of it, and we generate money from that. We generate a lot of hotel room occupancies, and importantly, we generate them outside the summer season.”
“That’s why our event is always after Labor Day; it’s kind of an effort to help the city in general,” he explained. “Just trying to bring in some extra revenue for the city, outside the summer.”
San Diego Bayfair, which was first held in 1964, has been a mainstay event, Mansfield said, due to the accessibility that attendees receive.
“We’re not an event like a NASCAR event, where you gotta buy a ticket to get to this point, or you gotta do this to get these services. We’re basically an event where you buy a ticket, you can go to the pits and go talk to the drivers, go see all the stuff. You can walk; you have accessibility,” he said.
“And so, I think the nice thing about it is, is that people understand that not only is Mission Bay beautiful, but it’s really kind of family-friendly and accessible,” he continued. “If somebody doesn’t know the boats, they literally can walk up to the rail and just start asking questions because these guys love their boats so much, or like the sport, that they’re more than willing to engage in conversations.”
He also said that the event serves as a sort of family reunion, or family gathering spot, for people each year.
“People will come in from, say, all across the country or Southern California or whatever it is, and they make Bayfair kind of like a family trip or a family destination to get together. I really do love that aspect of it. We have so many people that are on this property, or on these various islands, and we don’t have any issues.”
“It’s very family oriented; everybody is there to have a good time,” he continued. “They’re either they’re there to watch the races or to hang out with their friends and enjoy being part of San Diego. So, it is kind of like a giant family, this event is.”
