"Classic rivalry between rides guys and games guys."

Towards the end of June, a fistfight broke out between carnival workers at the San Diego County Fair, quickly captured on video by TikTok user @adan651. The incident sparked online discussions about the environment and safety of the event.

The video begins with a carnival booth worker in a black outfit slapping a taller man wearing a blue San Diego County Fair "Retro" t-shirt. "Ohhhh shit," exclaims @adan651 while filming and approaching the booth. The man in the blue t-shirt enters the booth and punches the worker. Amid signage reading "bam!, super, bang, snap, OMG!" and surrounded by broken plates and stuffed toys, the fight is interrupted by a mediator who says, "It's all good. There's no fighting; we're at the fair!"

The 21-second clip, initially posted on TikTok and Instagram, was repeatedly removed but found a permanent home on Reddit, where it attracted hundreds of comments. One comment noted in part, "Classic rivalry between rides guys and games guys."

A Del Mar local on NextDoor warned, "Keep in mind the fair is in town... and all of the out-of-towners who work it. We often hear crime incidents go up during this time. Be mindful of your valuables." Neighbors mentioned confrontations on the outskirts of the fairgrounds due to frustrated motorists struggling to find parking, leading to illegal parking in nearby neighborhoods and businesses.

Before the fight, I spoke with the Speedway Gas Station employees and Denny's manager across the street from the fairgrounds. They reported that criminal activity in the area remains the same whether the fair is in town or not.

According to CrimeMapping.com, there were only 11 reported crimes around the fairgrounds from June 12 to July 7, the duration of the annual fair. Eight of these reported crimes occurred just south of the fairgrounds by the Jimmy Durante Boulevard bridge crossing the San Dieguito River; six of these incidents involved alcohol and drug violations, topped with disorderly conduct. The other two were assaults, possibly related to the carnival workers mentioned earlier.

Then, there were the other three CrimeMapping reports in the vicinity. On July 1, the San Diego Police Department caught a male committing theft/larceny by the Hilton Del Mar, across the street from the fair. A vandalism report was made a few blocks north of the fairgrounds on Del Mar Downs Road the day before. The last crime reported was another drug/alcohol violation by the northwest corner of the fairgrounds.

Coastnews.com reported some crimes seemingly not reported on Crimemapping.com, including the June 26 arrest of a 37-year-old person at the fairgrounds for a felony warrant and on June 30, when sheriff's deputies responded to a report of simple battery at the fairgrounds.

There were a handful of misdemeanor disorderly conduct incidents that involved intoxication and drugs, which likely cross-matched a couple of Sheriff reports made on the crime mapping page.

Despite the isolated criminal activities at the fairgrounds and its surroundings, with a reported 900,000 attendees, the overall crime rate during the fair appears much lower than the Redditors and NextDoor users suggested.