Bringing her four-decade love for the Santa Clara County Fair to work

Fair Manager Salene Duarte looks forward to welcoming back families for the fair's 80th year next week, with new twists like a circus act joining old favorites.

You could say that Salene Duarte is all in on the Santa Clara County Fair and has been ever since she first exhibited animals at the fairgrounds when she was 9 years old.

When the 80th edition of the South Bay tradition opens next Thursday, it’ll mark 40 years of involvement for Duarte, who has been the fair manager since 2019 and took over as co-executive director of the Fairgrounds Management Corp. this year.

“I don’t think of it as work,” Duarte, 48, said as she walked the Fairgrounds on Tully Road in San Jose. “I love coming here every day.”

She’s hoping more families love coming to the Fair this year, too, as it commemorates its milestone with the theme “80 Years of Innovation: From the Fields to the Future” from July 25-28 and Aug. 1-4. Opening day will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony and free admission for kids 12 and under, there’s a parade scheduled for July 27 and Aug. 3 will be another packed day with the Firefighters Chili Cook-Off, a special needs community day and the junior livestock auction.

Favorites like carnival rides, magic shows and pig races, along with reptiles, BMX bike stunts and robotics. But this year there’s also monster truck rides, a mini circus show and a new partnership with the Tech Interactive, which is bringing hands-on exhibits to the Fair. Live entertainment on the Pavilion Stage includes tribute bands to Santana, the Beatles and Elvis, the 408 Collective, the Hitmen and Sonora San Jose. More information, including tickets, is available at www.thefair.org.

Of course, the 4H and Future Farmers of America livestock exhibitions have a special meaning for Duarte, who lives in San Jose. She started showing sheep and pigs when she was younger and moved into dairy cattle in high school. When she was a senior at Westmont High in the early 1990s, her mom oversaw the awards program and when her mom decided to step down, Duarte took up the reins. She even met her husband, David Duarte, when they were showing cattle at a show in Plymouth, Calif., and all three of their children have participated either as volunteers or showing livestock.

She was brought on as the fair manager just as COVID-19 turned everything upside down. The Fairgrounds was turned into a testing and then vaccination site by the county health department, but Duarte kept the livestock portion of the Fair going by making it virtual. But she’s more than thrilled to have the Fair back for Santa Clara County residents to enjoy in person again.

“I love the feeling I would get when I come to the Fair, and I still get that,” Duarte said. “Even though the Fair has changed significantly since I started, the youth today still get that same enjoyment of hanging out with their friends and going on the rides.”

BELLS OF HONOR: Bellarmine College Prep has announced a stellar class of alumni to be inducted into its Hall of Fame next month, including developer and philanthropist John A. Sobrato, who graduated from the Jesuit boys school in 1956. Sobrato will be honored Aug. 24 along with author Frank Bergon, oncologist John Glaspy and the school’s 2001 wrestling team, which won Bellarmine’s first and only Central Coast Section title in the sport.

The induction ceremony at the Sobrato Center for Humanities and the Arts will be followed by dinner on the Leo J. and Mary G. Lucas Quad. Register online at www.bcp.org/bhof.

NEW CHALLENGE: When Irene Wong left the David and Lucile Packard Foundation after 15 years last August, many people assumed it would not be long before she was back in a leading role in Silicon Valley’s philanthropic sector. Those people can collect their prize at the door, as the Palo Alto Community Fund has announced Wong as its first chief executive officer.

Susan Fields Bailey, the president of PACF’s board, says Wong’s extensive background makes her the right person to lead the organization into its next phase of growth, advancing local philanthropy across Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. And Wong is no stranger to growth like that, as she was the inaugural executive director and CEO of the eBay Foundation.

NINER WATCHING: With the 49ers’ training camp underway, don’t be surprised to see players making a few appearances around the area. Team captain Fred Warner, for example, will be at a Verizon store at 690 Blossom Hill Road in San Jose on Monday at 5 p.m. to greet fans along with the Gold Rush cheerleaders and mascot Sourdough Sam. In this case, the appearance is part of a new partnership between Verizon and the 49ers.

Of course, you can also see a lot more players if you were lucky enough to snag tickets to the 10 open practices at the SAP Performance Center at Levi’s Stadium between July 25 and Aug. 8, which is “87 Day” — an annual event that honors late 49ers legend Dwight Clark and raises awareness about ALS. Tickets — benefitting the 49ers Foundation — went on sale Monday for season-ticket holders and Thursday for everyone else and quickly sold out.