page_title: Feria Nacional de San Marcos
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Feria Nacional de San Marcos / History
caption_attribution_description: Español: Grupo Garcia AGS en la FNSM
context_page_description: The Feria Nacional de San Marcos is a national fair held in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes every year for three weeks. Most of the events related to the fair, however, occur in the city of Aguascalientes, the state capital. The exact date of the fair varies every year but is set around April 25, the Feast Day of San Marcos.
  Initially the fair was tied to the vendimia since wine production used to be an important activity in Aguascalientes. Nowadays, it is an important tourist attraction that is heavily associated with bullfighting and cockfighting. It is estimated that seven million people visit the fair every year and as a consequence hotels are usually filled to capacity, however some locals rent out their houses to visitors and go on vacation during this time.
context_section_description: The fair was celebrated for the first time around harvest time from November 5 to November 20, 1828, as a showcase of the state's produce and livestock.  During that time it was in direct competition with the fairs of Acapulco, Jalapa and San Juan de los Lagos.
  The celebrations centered in the Parián, a market in the city of Aguascalientes, until 1848. In 1842 the outside balustrade of San Marcos Park was built in a plot of land donated by the Catholic Church. The balustrade is of Neoclassical style and is still preserved to this day. Once San Marcos Park was completed the date of celebration was changed to April to coincide with the festivities in honor the patron saint San Marcos (Saint Mark).
  Construction of the San Marcos Plaza bullring started in 1896 and was completed in only 48 days. From that date bullfighting was included in the festivities. It was not until 1992 that the much larger Monumental Plaza de San Marcos was built, with a seating capacity of fifteen thousand people.
  Since 1924 the winner of the beauty pageant has been crowned "Queen of the Fair". In 2006, after some electoral controversy, three queens were appointed.
  In 1958 the fair was elevated to the rank of "National" by President Adolfo López Mateos.
  On April 26, 2009, the fair was canceled due to the pandemic flu virus that was affecting certain areas of Mexico.
  This was the first time in 181 fairs that the festivities had been canceled. On July 2, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was cancelled for the second time in its history.
caption: Attractions at the 2014 Fair
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