The fair is located in Indio, California, a city in the Colorado Desert, approximately 130 miles (210 km) east of Los Angeles.

It has grown to feature musicians and comedians, a Date Festival Queen and her court, monster trucks and bull-riding.

[4] Safety for the fair is provided by the Indio Police Department, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office, and private security.

The Fair started as a festival to celebrate the end of the annual date harvest in Southern California's desert region, the major commercial date-producing area in the Western Hemisphere.

[citation needed] The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved in June 2022 a partnership with Pickering Events LLC to bring the Date Festival back to Indio on an annual basis.

[5] Pérez also announced that the next Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival will be held February 17-26, 2023, and it will return as a full-scale event.

“This is great for the City of Indio, the Coachella Valley and Riverside County and for the future of the National Date Festival,” said Supervisor Pérez.

Students from Riverside County compete to win the scholarship money for continued education and act as the "good will" ambassador over the Fair.