It’s fair season in Jamestown, and according to the Stutsman County Fair Association’s website (
/ 1-701-252-2404) this is the 128th year for the Stutsman County Fair.
It began in 1898 with agricultural and educational events, which it still presents in 2026. There are various competitions for a range of ages and topics, from animal husbandry to culinary arts, crafts, and farm skill sets and kids’ versions as well.
The North Dakota Tourism site says it perfectly;
“Get ready for four days of fun, food, and entertainment at the 128th Stutsman County Fair!
“Join the celebration Wednesday, June 24, through Saturday, June 27, 2025, at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds in Jamestown. As North Dakota’s largest county fair, this annual event brings thrilling rides, live music, delicious food, and family-friendly activities to the heart of Stutsman County.”
There’s free stage entertainment nightly. There will be a great mix of local and regional talent to entertain visitors each evening.
There will be 4-H exhibits, and livestock shows starting Wednesday, with 4-H youth from across Stutsman County who will showcase handmade projects, animals, and award-winning entries in a variety of categories. And nobody can pass up fair food.
Fair food and vendors from deep-fried classics to unique carnival creations will tempt everyone. Be sure to check times and costs on its website.
County fairs are an exciting time when farmers, their wives and kids get to show off their talents and compete in “the best of the best” for animals, skills, crafts, culinary arts as well as growing. Many fairs have art shows and competitions, flower shows, riding competitions, as well as educational experiences where area town folk get to try their hand right along with the hard-working farmers and families that keep our nation fed.
As a young mom, my job for the Chamber of Commerce (that ran the county fair where I lived) was to make the signs and posters, tack them around town and hand out fliers with all the answers to questions unasked. I also ran flower show competitions and put together art shows for the county’s largest art association. Fairs in the Deep South were an autumn affair, usually after school began and before Thanksgiving. The kids needed to get settled, and the men needed to get through that first hunting season, plus harvests down there were earlier for some crops like peaches and much later for others, like peanuts.
But the fair offers the same wonderful, exciting, spell-binding side shows and entertainment wherever the county fair and regardless the month. Kids are bright-eyed, parents exhausted but happy to see friends they see only at harvest or fairs, and everybody gets to check in on what their friends take away from competitions.
I’d never been to a culinary competition until we moved to middle Georgia. There were baked goods (pies — oh goodness, those pies) and every kind of sweet bar imaginable, cakes like no “Big Mama” anywhere but there could bake, and the men competed, grilling venison, hare, quail, turkey and wild hog on crude grills. Until moving South, I’d never tasted a pecan-wood grilled/barbecued meat of any variety, much less homestyle BBQ sauces. So, for this bonified Yankee, Southern fairs proved to be eye-openers and a gastronomic gut ache. Hopefully, the Stutsman County Fair won’t have such grilling competitions. Makes my stomach hurt thinking about it, because I’d surely have to be there.
The Upper Midwest has its own specialty fair-going food items, however, and those little ones will enjoy the bright lights and the opportunity to try out some rides and flavors that happen once a year. Just about every county in every state has some kind of agricultural fair, and North Dakota has a wealth of opportunities to enjoy this special time of the year.
Now, if the extended family cannot be in Jamestown until Independence Day, but fair tourism is their thing, then take them to West Fargo for its 121st Red River Valley Fair. It will run 10 days, from July 3 through July 12, at the fairgrounds in West Fargo. Check
or call 701-282-2200 for times, prices and information.
If anyone has an item for this column, please send it to Sharon Cox, PO Box 1559, Jamestown, ND 58402-1559.
Sharon Cox retired in 2020 after 28 years at the University of Jamestown, including as department chair and professor of art.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.jamestownsun.com ’
