The Valley Fair is on hiatus for 2009, as officials work to secure a permanent location for the event within the San Fernando Valley, announced Catherine M. Garcia, PhD., Chief Executive Officer of the 51st District Agricultural Association, the organization behind the fair.

The 61-year-old annual event has had several locations during the past decade since moving from the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in 1998. Recent locations have included Saugus Speedway in the Santa Clarita Valley, Castaic Lake, and the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center in Sylmar. Last year, the fair enjoyed an attendance of 35,000.

Calls to bring the fair back to the San Fernando Valley have been heard loudly and clearly by fair organizers, who say the time is now to do just that.

“We’re being very prudent,” Garcia said. “We have outgrown the Saugus Speedway location, where the time constraints for breaking down the fair present insurmountable problems regarding the safety and wellbeing of workers.”

The 51st DAA Board of Directors voted unanimously to take a year off at this crucial juncture to regroup, recreate, and relocate the fair to its traditional home in the San Fernando Valley. While a site has yet to be chosen, the board’s president, David S. Honda is spearheading the effort to find a location that is convenient to local families and conducive to producing the best fair possible.

“The board made the right choice here,” Honda said. “We have a wonderful opportunity to focus all of our energy this year on the goal of having a permanent home next year and for decades to come. “Given that both the state and the private sectors are experiencing economic difficulties, we will sacrifice this year for the sake of returning to the San Fernando Valley in 2010 at a new location, for which we will hold a long-term lease, and with which we will secure the fair’s future growth both culturally and financially,” Honda said.

Honda and Garcia expressed their commitment to finding a long-term home for the fair by 2010. “That is a goal we are passionate about.” Honda said.