Humboldt County Fairgrounds

The fairgrounds is a convenient stop if you want to explore Ferndale, the coast and the Fortuna area. We walked to town to explore and it's only a 5 mile drive to the beach for sunset!

The campground has hookups, water and electric, for $25 or you can dry camp for $12. Parking for hookups is in a field which is a little overgrown or just inside the fairgrounds gate along the street where it looks like the vendors set up during the fair. This area looked nice, well kept and level. Dry parking is in the parking lot along the fence which was fine. The parking lot was just used by a few fairground employees during the day and the fairgrounds are on the edge of town so it was quiet.

We didn't have reservations and there was more than enough room. The fair is in August and parking may not be available then.

We felt safe unhitching the trailer here to explore.

We looked but have no idea where the dump was.

Verizon was strong enough to stream, unboosted.

Arriving over memorial day weekend, there were a few spots open but no more self registrations, no camp host, no security. Sites and bathrooms were clean. Good access off the highway.

The sites are fairly small, but plush and grassy, each with its own water spigot. Bathroom shower was hot, but to get the code I had to ask multiple people, as it usually comes with the self registration and the general atmosphere of the campers was suspicious. The Tuesday after Memorial day, the camp was almost completely empty except for a few longer-term, resident van-based groups, once of which had a very loud, very angry, possibly mentally ill member which was concerning. This seemed par for the course. Again, no camp host or any patrols, just the county fair office people during the working day. Near some county heavy machinery depot, so noise starts early. Strong orange sodium lights throughout.

There are multiple signs saying to fill out the self-registration, and no free camping, but based on the amount of supervision the site receives at night I would not be surprised if people took advantage.

Dry camping in level asphalt parking lot, wet RV camping provided in grassy level field. Price includes flush toilets and unmetered, free hot shower in clean bathroom.

Host was onsite contrary to previous reviews. She was helpful and friendly and provided a list of restaurants in town.

Site is just outside Ferndale which is a cute, restored town. Beach with dramatic, breaking surf about three miles away.

I was here New Years 'Eve, so the noise level from a rental party was unusually late. Once they left (about 2am) it was very quiet and peaceful, which I would think, is the norm.

The shower was very good and very hot. The bathroom could use some cleaning (especially taking the spider webs down). The bathroom is pretty cold, but the shower was SO hot and unlimited! And included with the $12 dry camp fee!

The host was friendly without being too friendly.

I was in the paved, level parking lot not far from the bathroom.

A three-star campground given an extra star for being a reasonably priced option on the California coast.

Humboldt County Fairgrounds is located walking distance to downtown Ferndale, a cute little town with Victorian structures and a cool cemetery. The fairgrounds is surrounded by pasture and cows, making for a slightly pungent odor that you get used to pretty quick.

The campground is a plot of grass with hookups, bathrooms, showers, and a dump station. When I was there in April 2018 there were two campground hosts, though I never saw either. I paid for my site at the fairgrounds front desk, which is located next to the campground and is open during the day. They also provided information on the town, the nearest beach, and directions to a neat coastal lookout.

Campsites are $28, but the fairgrounds also allows dry camping in their parking lot for $12. Kudos to them for this second option, which I gladly took them up on. They didn't mind a portable solar panel being placed in the parking lot, either.

Showers weren't too clean but the hot water was plentiful. The dump station is not at the campground but around the back of one of the fair buildings. Behind that building were three or four permanent rigs in rough shape...not sure what was up with that but it wasn't an issue. I didn't even notice them until we utilized the dump station.

I didn't see any sketchy characters. There is some traffic through the parking lot as the fairgrounds is used a park for baseball, football, etc. It was quiet overnight. My first night there I was woken up at 2:00 a.m. with an air raid siren. Since the fairgrounds is in a tsunami zone I called police dispatch to double check what the siren was for - it's the call to arms for the local volunteer fire department. FYI if that happens to you. I imagine an actual tsunami warning would last longer than the 2-3 minutes it did for the fire department.

Enough AT&T for me to work, hovering around 7/mbps down. Overall, a relaxing and inexpensive place to stay after too many nights of paying California campground prices.

Stayed here overnight on a July weekend and there was a dog show at the fairgrounds which was kind of fun but no hook up sites were available. They have field parking for dry camping which is what we did, then watched some of the dog show in the morning. There was also a foul (birds) event at the fairgrounds as well. Seems the fairgrounds are used regularly. They have a nice little campground and a very friendly host. The rodeo/horse races/town fair is August 16-26, 2018 and it sounds like this campground and dry camp areas are completely full during that period so if you are planning to come through during that time, I would avoid the fairgrounds. The campground has Wifi but it is extremely slow. It might get better if it was a quieter weekend or during the week but I found it more reliable to hit the road and pick up Wifi at the next Starbucks/McDonalds. The bathrooms have showers but it's not the cleanest facilities I've seen. Registration is done with the camp host, but the fairgrounds do have an office as well.

Bare bones campground and this ended up being our first time camping without sewage. Site was pretty level for being grass and dirt. I checked out the bathroom and decided on military showers in my RV. My daughter chose the public bathroom and said there was plenty of hot water. It took me a couple if walks to find the dump station (behind the first fairground building). Next to the dump station is a few trailers in bad shape with people living in them. The camp host is across the dirt road from me. I have seen several people asking questions but I have yet to talk to them. They were outside their motorhome about 1230AM making enough noise that I went to investigate. As far as shady people, I have seen people pull up to use the locked bathrooms and drive away as well as a homeless couple sleeping on the bench near the front office.

Nice affordable location in Humboldt County. Fairly level sites with water and electricity at a reasonable rate. 15 minutes walk to Ferndale. Bathrooms a little rundown but lots of hot water in shower. Dump is in an odd location on the on the northern edge of the fairgrounds along the fence behind a building, you will have to ask where it is to find it. Lots of sites available. Good Humboldt PBS stations on over the air TV. Will keep it on my list of a place to return to.

California isn't a cheap place to visit but this site is priced well for boondocking or for those who need services.

When boondocking the parking lot is flat with access to the dumpsite. The dumpsite is a bit hard to locate in the dark. Nothing overly fancy about the place but it worked for a night. The bathrooms are in need of some TLC but still the best place to camp in this area.

We were sitting in our site at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, looking to get out of the heat and mainly the smoke from all the fires in our area and doing a lot of fruitless searching until we saw a FB post from a guy who had just pulled into this place. We called and spoke to Ken (nice guy) who said that while they don't take reservations, we should have no trouble getting a site. So we drove up (in smoke most of the way) and are sure glad we made the drive. We are parked inside the fair gate, on the midway and were rewarded with an amazing sunset that first night. The sites inside the gate are not numbered and we got to pick the one we wanted. I suspect they are where the food trucks park when the fair is going on. You park beside one of two big yards and there is water and electric and a dump station behind the building that houses the Eel River Model Railroad Club. There is also a number of spaces outside the gate, on grass, but we are on asphalt. The fairgrounds are on the NW edge of town in a very peaceful setting. We have been walking on the horse racetrack in the evenings. We paid our $28/day fee to Diane (Ken's wife) who is also very nice. There is a $5 fee to dump and/or take a shower. Unrelated, but the same price. If you stay here, you have to go to Ferndale Pizza, it is some of the best we've ever eaten. We got the Wildcat and asked them to add onions. You also have to check out Sweetness and Light, which is a small candy store that makes it's own candy. Check out the "about us" story, that is so sweet.