Redmond is set to be rollicking again as the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center is set to host another large event. This time, its the 103rd annual Deschutes County Fair and Rodeo.

Running from August 2-6, daily admission tickets Wednesday to Saturday cost $15, or $10 for fairgoers aged 6-12 and older than 62. Children under 5 are admitted free. On Sunday, tickets cost $10 for ages 13-61 and $8 for ages 6-12 and 62 plus.

Three exciting events are new to the fair this year, including a sea lion show, freestyle motocross concert and a drone light show.

Fair & Expo Center director Geoff Hinds said the drone show will be “the icing on the cake this year.”

The new stuff will help keep fresh one of the longest traditions in Deschutes County.

“It’s Central Oregon’s biggest celebration of our community,” Hinds said. “It’s a great place to come see the products and projects produced by the local community. It’s the 103rd annual fair and a great opportunity to come together and celebrate what’s so great about Central Oregon.”

The fairgrounds is coming off hosting the very first FairWell Festival in July. That event brought 60,000-65,000 onto the grounds over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The crowds helped make the music festival a huge success, but there were also some bumps in the road.

Seth Carol, of Woodburn, stayed in Sisters for the weekend. After the music ended on Friday night, he said he had to wait in his car for two hours before being he was able to get out of the parking lot.

“When we got in the car it was still another hour to get to the traffic light,” he said. “I didn’t make it back to Sisters till 3 a.m. and we walked out of the concert at 11.”

On Saturday, Carol and his group of 11 prepared themselves for a long night and brought coolers and snacks to hang out in a tailgate fashion while waiting for the traffic to clear up.

“We sat at the car for two hours before the cars around us even moved,” Carol said.

According to Hinds, festival planners took the county fair traffic plan and “built off that plan with modifications to accommodate the maximum flow.”

Redmond Police Department had increased their staffing by about 30 percent for Fairwell, according to Redmond Police public information officer Eric Beckwith. The Oregon State Police Department also increased patrol efforts around the fairgrounds, but neither organization had officers dedicated to moving traffic off the grounds.

Hinds says that the fairgrounds will use the Fairwell experience to improve the traffic flow of future events, including the upcoming county fair.