Brown County Ohio Fair Festival
Some fairs borrow their nicknames from visitors; the Brown County Fair chose its own. Its fair book has carried “The Little State Fair” as a running head for generations; its own history page says the name was first heralded by 1925 or 1926 and boasted of in the fair book from 1939. Behind that billing stands a six-day county fair in Georgetown, Ohio — parade, demolition derbies, pulls, horse shows and a junior fair — run by the Brown County Agricultural Society in a town the fair first reached in 1853. This account follows its publications year by year, since the fair re-prices itself in every new book and its pages disagree about its edition count.
A Nickname the Fair Book Chose for Itself
The event’s formal name is simply the Brown County Fair. The styling “The Little State Fair” belongs to the fair itself — it runs across its fair-book covers and is explained on its own History page — billing the fair chose, not a ranking, and no part of the organiser’s legal name. That organiser is the Brown County Agricultural Society, the name Article I of the constitution in the fair’s own 2024 fair book gives it. Its working board appears in the fair books as the Brown County Senior Fair Board; the 2024 roster names President Bill Neal, Vice President Danny Gray and Secretary/Treasurer Christy Lucas, with directors drawn one from each township — officers recorded for 2024 only. Georgetown, the county seat, hosts the fair at grounds its site and books give as 325 West State Street, Georgetown, Ohio 45121.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Event | Brown County Fair, styled The Little State Fair in the fair’s own billing |
| Organiser | Brown County Agricultural Society |
| Town | Georgetown, county seat of Brown County, Ohio |
| Grounds | Brown County Fairgrounds, 325 West State Street, Georgetown, Ohio 45121 |
| Season | Six days, Monday to Saturday, from the fourth Monday of September |
| Latest state-listed run | September 28 to October 3, 2026, in the state schedule and entry system |
| Best-documented run | September 23 to 28, 2024, under the fair’s own 2024 fair book |
| Gate in the 2024 book | Fifteen dollars general admission, rides included free |
| Camping in the 2024 book | Three hundred thirty dollars, including two season tickets |
What to Expect
The fullest working picture comes from the fair’s own 2024 fair book and the Extension office’s Junior Fair book for the same week, so the programme below is 2024’s — fenced to that year, not a standing schedule.
Monday Opens With a Parade, a Crowning and a Derby
The week opens in the town itself: exhibitors, bands and floats line up at the Georgetown High School at five on Monday afternoon, move through town at half past five and enter the fairgrounds at about a quarter past six. At eight the Junior Fair Queen and King are crowned in the Danny Gray Activity Center, and the same night brings the first of two demolition derbies in the Tractor Pull Area, the second on Tuesday.
Four Evenings of Pulls and a Week of Horse Shows
From Wednesday through Saturday the Tractor Pull Area belongs to the Championship Truck and Tractor Pull on four consecutive evenings. Horses hold the rings all week: an open horse show, western pleasure, a draft horse show and championship classes in the main ring.
For a useful comparison, see the Belmont County Ohio Barnesville Pumpkin Festival for another county festival.
Stages and Ring Entertainment in the 2024 Book
Music fills the Main Ring and the Danny Gray Activity Center in the 2024 schedule: the Eagles tribute act 7 Bridges and country singer Tony Jackson on Tuesday, the Cheerleading Competition on Wednesday, and, in the Thursday-to-Saturday layers, the Queen City Cloggers, a POW-MIA Memorial Service with the Liberty Band, the Whispery Pines Percherons, and Bobby Mackey, Tim Castle and the Southern Ohio Rock Band in the activity center. Every name belongs to the 2024 book alone; no later lineup was retrieved.
The Junior Fair Fills Four Buildings
The youth half runs on its own full card in the county Extension office’s 2024 Junior Fair Book. Market gilt and barrow shows lead the swine programme; dairy cattle, pygmy and fiber goats, Boer goats, sheep, rabbits and poultry show across the week, with dog classes spanning obedience, showmanship, rally and freestyle, a cat show and companion animals. Rhonemus Hall, behind the grandstand, hosts skillathons, book checks and Girl Scout displays; the Wallace Barn takes the Boer goat and commercial swine shows; the Pulliam Building houses the companion animals; the activity center adds the dog and cat shows to its crowning duties. Cloverbud activities and the sales round out the week.
Floral Hall, Contests and Senior Citizens’ Day
Floral Hall holds the open-class exhibits in the 2024 book, alongside a cake auction, a cake-decorating contest and a chili contest; the open honey show, the Baby Show and a cornhole tournament sit in the same layer. Thursday is Senior Citizens’ Day, with activities in the Danny Gray Activity Center and a five-dollar senior gate that day, rides not included — a one-day 2024 layer, never a standing senior price.
Russellville First: The History the Fair Publishes About Itself
The fair’s past is told here the way the fair tells it, because nearly all of it rests on the History page of the fair’s own website. By that account the Society was organised on January 17, 1850, and the first Brown County Fair followed at Russellville on October 16 of the same year. The second fair met at Ripley on October 2 and 3, 1851; in 1853 the fair was held at Georgetown for the first time. The same page dates the nickname — heralded by 1925 or 1926, boasted of in the fair book from 1939 — and records that in 1941 Brown County won the Myers Y. Cooper award for the best fair in Ohio for 1940.
The page states plainly that in 1942 the fair was discontinued until after the war, then adds that 4-H projects shown at the Ripley Fall Festival that October “gave the Agricultural Society credit for having continuous fairs since 1853.” That line is reproduced exactly as what it is — the fair’s own claim, printed beside its own record of a wartime discontinuation — not as settled fact in either direction. It likewise records that in 2020, by the Governor’s order, that year’s event was a junior fair alone.
The page’s fabric is history too: a Frost amphitheater built in 1901 to seat three thousand and a large amphitheater lost to fire in 1978 — neither described here as standing today.
One thing this history refuses to supply is a settled edition number. The fair’s own publications disagree: the History page marks a 100th fair in 1951 and a 125th in 1976; the fair books bill a 171st in 2022 and a 173rd in 2024; a partner layer calls the 2025 running the 174th; and the current homepage header proclaims a 176th annual fair beside a link to a 175th fair book. No chain is corrected from another and no founding is worked backwards out of any ordinal — the 1850 Russellville fair stands on the History page’s own statement.
Planning Your Visit
Dates That Follow the Fourth Monday
The season is late September: six days starting the fourth Monday of September. The dated layers stand separately: the state agriculture schedule and the national entry system agree on September 28 to October 3, 2026, while one fair-list layer gives an October 2 closing — a conflict recorded, never merged, with the state layers governing. The state’s 2025 list ran September 22 to 27; the 2024 book covers September 23 to 28.
Every Price Wears Its Own Year
This fair prints a fresh price ladder in each year’s fair book, and the ladders move, so each is quoted only under its own year. The 2024 book charges fifteen dollars for general admission with rides free; forty-five dollars for an exhibitor season ticket, rides not included; forty-six dollars for membership, rides not included; two dollars for a Junior Fair exhibitor ticket; and five dollars for ride admission for those entering on passes. Children aged two and under enter free in that book, though riding requires a five-dollar ride bracelet. Earlier books charged less — the comparison below sets them side by side. For 2025 and 2026 no ladder was published in the layers gathered here — the current admission page carries no prices — so no current gate figure is printed, and 2024’s fifteen dollars must not be mistaken for today’s price; no grandstand ticket is published for the derbies or pulls either.
Parking, the Shuttle and Sleeping on the Grounds
Drivers should expect permit rules rather than a price. The 2024 book allows parking on the main part of the grounds with permits only and lists a shuttle for off-grounds parking; no parking charge appears in any layer gathered. Camping, by contrast, is priced — in its own years. The 2024 book offers camper places at three hundred thirty dollars, advance reservation required, including two season tickets. The 2023 figure was three hundred dollars, likewise including two season tickets; the two stand unmerged, neither current. The site carries a camper agreement page in its 2026 navigation, but its terms could not be retrieved, leaving the present camping price unpublished here.
One Fair Week, Day by Day
Modelled on the 2024 book — the only year whose full schedule this record holds — a first visit might unfold like this. Come Monday for the parade lineup at the high school and stay for the crowning and the first demolition derby at eight. Give Tuesday to the stage bills and the second derby, Wednesday to the cheerleading competition and the first championship pull, Thursday to Senior Citizens’ Day, the Floral Hall contests and another evening of pulling. Keep Friday for the junior shows and sales and Saturday for a last pass through the barns before the closing pull. Treat the shape as a pattern, not a promise: later years’ daily schedules were not retrieved.
Three Fair Books, Three Ladders
Set the fair’s three most recent published ladders side by side and its habits become clear. General admission held at ten dollars across the 2022 site layer and the 2023 book, then rose to fifteen dollars in the 2024 book, rides free at every step. The exhibitor season ticket climbed from twenty-five dollars to thirty and then forty-five, and membership from twenty-six to thirty-one to forty-six, while the junior ticket never moved from two dollars and ride admission stayed at five. A fair that re-prices this visibly cannot be quoted from memory — nothing here presents 2024’s figures as the next fair’s price.
Visitor Checklist
- Check the current year’s dates each year; the week moves with the fourth Monday.
- Take prices only from the current year’s fair book; the newest ladder in this record is 2024’s.
- Arrive before five on opening Monday for the parade, which reaches the grounds near a quarter past six.
- Remember that recent general admission included rides; exhibitor and membership passes did not.
- Budget the five-dollar ride bracelet for any child aged two or under who will ride.
- Reserve a camper place in advance if you plan to stay on the grounds.
- Keep Thursday free for Senior Citizens’ Day with older relatives, and check that year’s terms.
- Use the off-grounds parking shuttle rather than counting on a permit for the main grounds.
Beyond the Fairgrounds
Fair week is a Georgetown event as much as a fairgrounds one: the opening parade assembles at the high school, crosses the village and pours through the gates. The fair’s early geography reaches beyond the village — the first fair met at Russellville and the second at Ripley before the event settled at Georgetown in 1853. Around them lies the farmland whose produce and livestock fill the halls and barns each September.
Why the Little State Fair Endures
The fair’s significance sits in its structure. A society organised, by its own account, in 1850 still runs the week through a board drawn one director from each township, so the fair belongs to the whole county in a literal sense. Its Junior Fair gives young exhibitors a complete public arena — market hogs, dairy goats, dogs, cats, rabbits and skillathons — and Floral Hall does the same for bakers, growers and craftspeople. The nickname the fair chose turns out to be a mission statement: a county fair staging a state fair’s range — pulls, derbies, horse shows, stage acts, sales — at a village’s scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does admission cost?
It depends on the year. The most recent ladder in this record is the 2024 book’s: fifteen dollars general admission with rides free, forty-five dollars for an exhibitor season ticket, forty-six dollars for membership. No 2025 or 2026 ladder was published in the layers gathered here, so consult the current book before budgeting.
When does the fair take place?
Late September, across six days from Monday to Saturday beginning with the fourth Monday of the month. The state schedule places the 2026 fair from September 28 to October 3; the 2024 book ran September 23 to 28.
Are rides included in the ticket price?
In the recent books, general admission includes rides free — the 2024 book prints exactly that wording — while exhibitor season tickets and memberships expressly do not, and pass-holders pay five dollars for ride admission. Children aged two and under enter free but need a five-dollar ride bracelet to ride.
Can I bring a camper for fair week?
Yes, on the fair’s own book terms. The 2024 book priced camper places at three hundred thirty dollars including two season tickets, advance reservation required; the 2023 book charged three hundred dollars on the same bundle. Current terms sit in a camper agreement whose text was not retrievable here, so confirm the present price first.
What to Expect From the Next Brown County Ohio Fair Festival
How often is Brown County Ohio Fair Festival held?
Once a year. Every dated layer in the record shows a single six-day fair each autumn, with the 2020 junior-only running the lone documented exception to the full format.
When is the next Brown County Ohio Fair Festival?
The state agriculture schedule and the entry system place the coming fair from September 28 to October 3, 2026, at the Brown County Fairgrounds in Georgetown. A fair-list layer’s October 2 closing stands recorded as a conflict, with the state layers followed here.
Will the dates change?
They shift within their season by design. Pegged to the fourth Monday of September, the Monday start has fallen on September 26 in 2022, September 25 in 2023, September 23 in 2024 and September 22 in 2025, with 2026 reaching into October.
Go for the parade and the pulls, stay for the junior shows, and read the fair the way it asks to be read — in its own year’s book, at its own year’s prices. The Brown County Fair has carried its nickname in its fair books since 1939; six days in Georgetown, it sets out to earn the name.
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