Santa Anita Hosts Over 600 Special Events Attracting More Than 44,000 Visitors During Track’s 90th Year

SANTA ANITA HOSTS OVER 600 SPECIAL EVENTS ATTRACTING MORE THAN 44,000 VISITORS DURING TRACK’S 90TH YEAR

The Great Race Place offers much more than just world-class Thoroughbred racing

ARCADIA, CA (July 2, 2025)— From the opening of the Classic Meet on Dec. 26 to the conclusion of the Hollywood Meet on June 15, historic Santa Anita Park provided much more than just world-class Thoroughbred racing in the 2024-25 winter-spring. During the two live race meets that took place as the track celebrated 90 years since its opening, Santa Anita also hosted more than 600 special events and group gatherings that attracted over 44,000 additional visitors to The Great Race Place.

“With 300-plus acres and a multitude of options with which to hold all kinds of occasions, Santa Anita Park has the ability to host multiple special events year-round,” said Pete Siberell, Santa Anita’s Director of Community Service and Special Projects. “They not only help create an important revenue stream for us, but they attract new kinds of people to our facility; we are hopeful that those attendees can come back on their own for world-class Thoroughbred racing, our bread-and-butter business.”

Santa Anita hosted 16 high school proms and dances, which by themselves had more than 6,700 guests. There were also more than 40 “team outings” on race days that included such organizations as the Los Angeles Chargers and Berkshire Hathaway. Santa Anita has also long been a favored locale for television and movie production and this year was no different. Tech giant Google shot a commercial at Santa Anita and scenes from the crime drama “Countdown” (Amazon Prime) and comedy series” Loot” (Apple TV+) were also filmed on location. The drama “Snowfall” (Netflix) also used Santa Anita’s parking lot as rehearsal space for a car chase scene.

The expansive parking lot at Santa Anita hosted 12 events in all that attracted thousands of visitors to Santa Anita. Among the most popular of these was the Southern California Truck Driving Championship organized by the California Trucking Association. In this annual competition, truckers test their driving skills under standardized conditions to see who’s best. The event serves as a qualifier for the State Finals and then potentially the National Truck Driving Championship.

Both Circus Vargas and the Garden Bros. Nuclear Circus also set up shop at Santa Anita for multiple days of family entertainment under the “big top.” Other events in Santa Anita's parking lot included a BMW Teen Driving Clinic, SKILLS Corporate Safe Driving Training and practice runs for the 2025 MTA Bus Rodeo. It also provided vehicle storage for various local businesses and offsite parking for Pasadena POPS concerts.

In addition to hosting tens of thousands of guests for community events, following the devastating Eaton Fire that ravaged portions of surrounding neighborhoods in January, Santa Anita stepped into action to aid in fire relief efforts. A donation center was established that saw more than 100,000 people a day come through to donate or pick up needed supplies. Santa Anita was also used for months as a base camp for Cal Fire and a staging ground for Southern California Edison Utility company.

For its fire relief efforts, Santa Anita was recognized as one of nine “Eaton Fire Community Heroes” by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Special events set for this summer at Santa Anita include the always popular 626 Night Market. Now in its 13th year, 626 Night Market features more than 300 attractions including food vendors, merchandise, arts and crafts, games, music and loads of other entertainment. The 626 Market will be held over four separate weekends this summer starting on Friday, July 4.

Live world-class Thoroughbred racing will return to Santa Anita on Friday, Sept. 26 for the start of the five-week Autumn Meet.