Gilliam County Oregon Fair Festival
For three public days at the end of August, Condon turns its fairgrounds over to livestock judging, exhibit halls and evening music, and nearly everything sayable about the occasion comes from one publication: the fair’s own book for 2025. Its span, gate term, premiums and schedule rest in those pages, backed by the county page and board agendas. Where the book stops, this article stops. No layer gathered publishes a founding year, a 2026 date or a camping term, and those silences belong to the record.
A Small Fair With One Book to Speak for It
The event behind the queue title is the Gilliam County Fair, the only name form its own layers use: the county page says the fair is managed by the Gilliam County Fair Board, the 2025 book carries the name on its cover, and the county library’s closure notices for late August 2025 repeat it. Extension layers support the same event without supplying a second name.
Two board forms stand unmerged. County pages and meeting notices from November 2024 through January 2026 use the full Gilliam County Fair Board, while the book’s rules vest supervision of the grounds and entire exhibitions in a County Fair Board, a short form never blended with the full name. The board list in both layers names Chris Fitzsimmons as Chairman, Marta Mikkalo as Vice Chair, and Leah Watkins, Gary Bettencourt and Taylor McIntosh. Sammy McCoin appears as Secretary in the book layer only, never carried into the other layer or another year.
Supporting bodies never become the organiser. OSU Extension runs the fair’s 4-H side through its own layers, and coordinator Maggie Justice is Extension staff in her layer, never a board member. The Gilliam County Auction Committee stands behind the youth livestock auction pool in the book, superintendents run their departments in its pages, and the county itself appears only as a pool contributor.
The geography is settled independently of any fair document: a state geographic-names record states plainly that Condon is the county seat of Gilliam County, and Condon hosts the fair. Arlington held the seat first, at Alkali, until voters moved it to Condon in 1890, so Arlington is a historical seat only, appearing in the 2025 book simply as an outlet town for entry buttons and fair books.
For a useful comparison, see the Douglas County Oregon Fair Festival for another county festival.
Quick Facts
| Point | What the record shows |
| Verified event | The Gilliam County Fair at Condon, documented by its own 2025 fair book |
| Host town and seat | Condon, Oregon, county seat and host |
| Grounds | Gilliam County Fairgrounds in Condon |
| Organiser forms | Gilliam County Fair Board in county layers; County Fair Board in the 2025 book’s rules |
| Documented public span | Thursday to Saturday, August 28 to 30, 2025, in the 2025 book |
| 2025 theme | Feelin’ the Jive in ’25, on the book’s cover |
| Admission record | Entry buttons at three dollars, 2025 book only, good for that fair’s three days |
| Founding | No founding year, first fair or edition number in any layer gathered |
| Camping record | No camping or overnight term published for this fair or its grounds |
An Honours List, a 1950 Fragment, and No Founding Year
Nothing in the book, the county page, the agendas or the Extension layers states when this fair began, and no annual or edition billing was found in its own layers, so no founding year can be printed or calculated. What looks like a founding trail inside the book is an honours list: the Past Grand Marshals list begins in 1982 with Lester Schaefer and carries a notation for 2020 reading COVID. It records people honoured, not a first fair or an edition count, and the COVID entry is a notation rather than proof of a cancelled edition.
The oldest dated trace is a fragment: a newspaper issue of September 21, 1950 reports a rain-making exhibit at the fair at Condon on September 22, 23 and 24 of that year, proving a holding in the autumn of 1950 and nothing further. The remaining milestones belong to town and county: the county was created on February 25, 1885, Condon’s post office dates to 1884, its incorporation to 1893 and its seat to the vote of 1890. None of those civic dates dates the fair.
What to Expect
A Schedule Week Wrapped Around Three Public Days
The 2025 book prints a working week around its public days. Monday, August 25 opened the Fair Office and began the Food Preparation Contest. Tuesday, August 26 was given to breeding-animal judging, 4-H presentations, the Style Revue Contest and clothing judging. Wednesday, August 27 took in all exhibits between noon and eight, weigh-in running until seven. Sunday, August 31, when exhibits were released, closes the schedule without joining the public span.
Thursday, When the Halls Open
Thursday, August 28 started with the Herdsmanship Contest early and the Exhibit Halls open from half past eight. The Horse Show anchored the programme while judges worked through 4-H foods and expressive arts, small-animal judging and showmanship, and booth, needlework and machine-sewing classes, cookery exhibits due by ten. A Children’s Fair filled one until four, the 4-H Dog Show followed at five over at Burns Park, and a round robin and scavenger hunt ended the day. The county library closed for that Friday and Saturday. The book’s divisions, livestock and land produce through home economics, arts and crafts, booths and arena events, give the edition its shape, and that structure is the book’s alone.
Friday, Market Judging and Music After Dark
Friday, August 29 belonged to the market animals, judged with open classes following, while flowers, fruits and vegetables were judged from one. Horse Arena Events kept the arena busy. The evening moved off the fairgrounds: the Fashion Revue was staged at six in Burns Park, and music by Josh Lane and Company ran from seven until nine.
Saturday, Auction Day and the End of the Fair
Saturday, August 30 stacked showmanship contests across the species, all-around and open class pre-junior included. Halls and office closed at four, when awards were presented and the Artisan’s Market opened at Burns Park until seven. The Livestock Auction followed at five, a barbecue dinner was served, the beer garden ran from six until ten, and Brewer’s Grade, with Zac Grooms, closed the night from seven until ten. The book marks that Saturday as the fair’s end.
Planning Your Visit
Two Board Addresses, and a Third That Is Not the Fair’s
Two board address forms stand in the record, never merged. The county page gives the Secretary’s contact as 601 North Washington Street, PO Box 701, Condon, Oregon 97823, one combined street-and-box form. The book’s mailing form reads Gilliam County Fair Board, PO Box 701, Condon, OR 97823, box only, no street line. Neither may be split or fused. The Extension office in Condon, at 135 South Main Street with PO Box 707, is a different office with a different box number, never the board’s address. Burns Park, the beef barn and the Exhibit Halls are programme locations, not grounds addresses.
The Entry Button Is the Whole Gate Story
Admission rests on one term in the 2025 book. Its cover offers entry buttons at three dollars, good for three days of entertainment at the fair, sold at Arlington Hardware in Arlington, the Fair Office in Condon and Two Boys Grocery in Condon. Every exhibitor was required to purchase and wear one, and the book’s rules add that Oregon Fairs Association membership cards will be honored at the gate. A button for a three-day fair is not a per-day ticket, the term belongs to 2025 alone, no admission term is published for 2026, and no layer supports calling entry free.
Premiums, Fees and Donor Tiers Stay on Their Own Sides
Every other figure in the 2025 book sits on the exhibitor or donor side, each fenced to its division. Livestock pays ten dollars for first, eight for second and six for third; the beef, swine, goat, sheep, rabbit and dog layers add twenty-five dollars and a rosette ribbon for a grand champion, fifteen and a rosette for reserve. Home-economics and arts pay six, four and two dollars, while the Oregon Wheat Foundation’s cookery classes carry that foundation’s own larger scale, one hundred, seventy-five and fifty dollars for its premier award and fifty, thirty-five and twenty-five for a bread class. A two-dollar stall fee fell only on out-of-county beef exhibitors. The auction pool’s tiers, bronze one to one hundred dollars up to platinum at five hundred one to one thousand, are donations, never visitor prices. No carnival, ride, food or parking price appears anywhere; the book names no carnival or midway at all.
Staying Over, and What the Grounds Do Publish
No camping, recreational vehicle, hookup or overnight term for this fair or its grounds appears in the book, the county page, the agendas or any Extension layer, so camping cannot be described as a fair offer. The county page lists facilities instead: a fenced arena, grandstands, barns, a paved breezeway and restrooms with showers, plus a new Event Center expected for rent by late spring 2026. A facilities list is not a camping offer, and the showers line is a facilities statement, never a camping term. Staying over means ordinary area lodging.
A Fair Weekend Modelled on the 2025 Book
This pattern follows the documented 2025 edition only. Arrive Thursday for the Exhibit Halls and Horse Show, give children the afternoon Children’s Fair, and cross to Burns Park for the Dog Show at five. Spend Friday with the market judging, ending at Burns Park for the Fashion Revue and evening music. Save Saturday afternoon: awards at four, the auction at five, and the closing band carrying the fair to its end at ten.
Other Counties, Other Condons, and Events That Are Not This Fair
The neighbouring county fairs at Fossil in Wheeler County, Heppner in Morrow County and Moro in Sherman County are separate occasions, and nothing from them enters here. One corrupted old newspaper layer prints this fair’s name against Moro, an attribution the book and county page contradict outright, so that layer is rejected whole, no date rescued from it. A travel layer headed Condon, Montana describes this Oregon town under a wrong state heading, and the Oregon State Fair at Salem surfaces in Extension layers as a state occasion.
Ground shared is its own trap. The board’s January 2026 agenda set a date for a 4-wheeler rodeo, a separate arena event; the fair’s own book prints no rodeo, parade, pageant, carnival or midway. Event Center rentals, 4-H Fridays and clean-up day use the same property without being the county fair, and Arlington’s riverside occasions belong to Arlington.
Before You Set Out
- Work from the 2025 book’s shape: three public days, Thursday to Saturday, August 28 to 30, exhibits released Sunday.
- Buy the entry button at one of the book’s three outlets; its three-dollar term is fenced to 2025.
- Check the coming year’s fair book before travelling; no 2026 date or programme is published fair-side.
- Treat camping as unarranged; no fair camping term exists.
- Keep Burns Park in its place, a separate town park hosting a few fair events.
Beyond the Fairgrounds
The town grew up as a wheat-country trading centre on the John Day Highway, and Burns Park, the county park that borrows three of the fair’s 2025 events, is separate from fair week. Cottonwood Canyon State Park lies within reach in the John Day River country, and a private RV park in Condon serves road travellers; both stand as area recreation and accommodation on their own terms, with nothing to do with entering the fair.
Why a One-Book Record Still Matters
This fair’s case rests on a volunteer board, a secretary, division superintendents and an auction pool whose donor tiers begin at a single dollar, and the 2025 book captures that machinery completely because one publication had to carry everything. Button, honours list, donor tiers and schedule describe an occasion built at kitchen-table scale for a county of scattered farms and two incorporated towns.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the fair held, and is Condon the county seat?
The fair is held at the Gilliam County Fairgrounds in Condon, Oregon. Condon is the county seat, stated outright in a state geographic-names record, held since voters moved it from the first seat at Alkali, now Arlington, in 1890.
How much does it cost to get in?
The only gate term published anywhere is the 2025 book’s entry button: three dollars, good for three days of entertainment at that year’s fair, required of exhibitors and sold at the Fair Office, Two Boys Grocery and Arlington Hardware. Its rules also honour Oregon Fairs Association membership cards at the gate. No price is published for any other year, and nothing makes admission free.
When does the fair take place?
The one fully documented modern edition ran Thursday, August 28 to Saturday, August 30, 2025, themed Feelin’ the Jive in ’25, with schedule days either side; the documented recent season is late August. For 2026 the board’s January agenda still listed a fair theme as old business, and no 2026 date, theme or programme appears in any fair-side layer.
Can visitors camp at the fairgrounds during the fair?
No layer gathered publishes any camping, RV or overnight term for this fair or its grounds, so there is no fair camping offer to describe and no fair price to quote. The county park in Condon and the state park country along the John Day River arrange their own grounds, never the fair’s.
What to Expect From the Next Gilliam County Oregon Fair Festival
How often is Gilliam County Oregon Fair Festival held?
The record documents a full edition for 2025, board agendas carrying fair business from November 2024 into January 2026, and a newspaper trace of a 1950 holding. Those layers describe a recurring late-August county fair, and none prints an annual billing or edition count, so the honest statement is one fair in its documented season.
When is the next Gilliam County Oregon Fair Festival?
The most recent span is the 2025 public run, August 28 to 30, 2025, and no later edition’s dates appear in any layer gathered. A coming edition would be expected in late August, but its actual days can only come from its own fair book, and until one is published they are unstated.
Will the dates change?
They have stood in different parts of the calendar, a September span in the 1950 fragment against late August in the 2025 book. With no 2026 span published, each future edition’s days belong to its own publication rather than to any pattern carried forward from 2025.
A fair documented by a single thorough book asks to be read on that book’s terms: three late-August days in Condon, a three-dollar button, an honours list instead of a founding myth. What the record withholds, a first fair, a 2026 date, a campsite, it withholds completely, and the fair loses nothing by being described as far as its evidence reaches.
