LANCASTER, Calif. -- More than 40,000 people from all over the state are expected to make their way to Lancaster this weekend for the twenty-sixth annual California Poppy Festival.
Workers are getting ready for the jam-packed event, which spans over 35 acres.
“We start on Monday and we’re here all day long Monday through Friday and even up until Saturday morning. We’ll kind of have it ready to go by 8:00am Saturday morning. We open at 10,” said Senior Operations Manager Jeff Campbell.
The festival takes place April 22 thru April 23 will host over 200 arts and crafts vendors. There will be more than 40 food vendors, exotic animals, Lucha Libre wrestling, a children’s carnival, the Architects of Air exhibit, and more. City officials decided to extend normal hours to accommodate everything the festival has to offer.
“We are going to extend the hours a little bit on Saturday because it’s such a nice day. It’s supposed to be 90 degrees, so by 6:00 p.m. it might be still in the 80s or so. We’re probably going to stay open until about 7:30 p.m. so everyone can still see the crafts and food vendors and entertainment,” said Campbell.
People can buy tickets at the event, but the festival is expecting crowds in the thousands so organizers are recommending buying them beforehand at poppyfestival.com.