Fulton County Pennsylvania Fair Festival
In late July and early August, the fairgrounds at McConnellsburg fill with livestock trailers and a week of judging, pulling and live music. The event behind this title is the Fulton County Fair, the annual agricultural fair of Fulton County, Pennsylvania, whose record is unusually complete for its most recent edition: the fair’s own Schedule of Events prints the 2026 fair day by day. Fairs carrying the Fulton County name also run in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Arkansas, while New York’s cannot be verified, so everything below belongs to the Pennsylvania fair alone.
About the Fulton County Fair
The Fulton County Fair is a week long agricultural fair built around entries and judging: livestock and exhibit competitions, youth shows, the youth livestock sale, tractor and truck pulls, rides, live music and the Fair Queen Contest. Its own site, the state agriculture department’s 2026 Fair Guide, the Fulton County Chamber layer and local reportage all print the name as Fulton County Fair. Its site header form, Fulton County PA Fair, belongs to that layer only, and the word Festival in this article’s title is the queue’s wording, never the fair’s.
McConnellsburg is both the county seat and the host, on separate proof: the Pennsylvania State Archives’ County Courthouses table records McConnellsburg as the seat and dates the county’s creation to April 19, 1850, from Bedford. That 1850 date belongs to the county, says nothing about the fair, and no fair layer is used to prove the seat.
The grounds address stands in layers that are never merged. A county government directory lists the Association at 888 Lincoln Way East, PO Box 246, McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania 17233, while a Chamber layer shortens the street to 888 LWE in that layer only; the post office box is mailing only. A version pointing the street the opposite way circulates in event listing layers, but no fair side, county or Chamber layer supports it, and every authoritative layer fetched says East.
The organiser’s published name forms are likewise kept apart. Fulton County Fair Association is the form used by the Chamber, the county directory, local reportage and the fair’s own site, whose competitions page gives its rules and classes as the Association’s. A state association and nonprofit directory layer gives Fulton County Fair Inc as a secondary name form, in that layer only, and no layer makes this fair an agricultural society’s work. The businesses sponsoring individual days in the 2026 schedule, and the Penn State Master Gardeners, who sponsor a children’s project on its Tuesday, are supporters, never the organiser. The Festival of Lights, spelled Festival of Light in the Chamber layer with the spellings standing unmerged, shares the grounds and the fair’s own homepage each December without belonging to the fair, and its dates are never fair dates.
For a useful comparison, see the Franklin County Pennsylvania Fair Festival for another county festival.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Event | Fulton County Fair, the annual agricultural fair of Fulton County, Pennsylvania |
| Host town | McConnellsburg, which is also the county seat |
| Grounds | Fulton County Fairgrounds, 888 Lincoln Way East, McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania 17233 |
| Organiser | Fulton County Fair Association, as used by the fair’s own site, county directory and Chamber |
| Documented 2026 span | August 2 to 8, 2026, following entry days on July 31 and August 1 |
| Documented 2025 span | July 27 to August 2, 2025, billed as the 104th annual |
| Admission in 2026 | Free on Sunday; seven dollars, or ten dollars with rides, on the other days, with children age two and under free |
| Parking | No parking price, pass term or rule for fair week is published in any fair side layer fetched |
| Camping | No camping rate, hookup term or fair week rule is published in any fair side layer fetched |
A Founding Told in Three Layers
This fair’s early history survives only in layers that cannot be merged. Local reportage in July 2025 bills that year’s edition the 104th annual, billing in a newspaper layer and nothing more. A nonprofit directory reporting the Association’s tax form data gives a founding year of 1919, in that layer only, and a mirror of the Association’s social page prints the most specific form, established September 1919, in that layer only. No direct founding statement was found on the fair’s own website, so beyond those two 1919 layers the founding is unverified, and the figures are never reconciled by arithmetic: counting a continuous run backwards from a 104th billing in 2025 would land near 1922 rather than 1919, a mismatch that itself proves billing is not a founding record.
One hiatus in the record belongs to a contest, not to the fair: the Fair Queen Contest crowned no queen between Macey Ward’s crowning in 2017 and the contest’s return in 2025. No discontinued event evidence exists for the fair itself, and the pageant’s quiet years say nothing about the fair itself.
What to Expect at the Fair
A Week of Themed Days in 2026
The fair’s own Schedule of Events is the complete layer for 2026, building the public week, Sunday August 2 through Saturday August 8, as a run of themed days. Entry days for livestock and exhibits fall on Friday July 31 and Saturday August 1, printed at the head of that schedule as entry mechanics, not public fair days.
Sunday and Monday: Horses, Vespers and the Queen
Sunday August 2 opens with the Open Horse Show and Vesper Services, and the Fair Queen Contest follows at 7 p.m. with free admission. Monday August 3 is Armed Forces Day, named for West Central Equipment and Hurley Auctions, and packs in the Rabbit Show, the Breeding Beef and Market Steer shows, Air Rifle Competitions, a 4-Wheeler Rodeo and live music by Chad Laughlin.
Tuesday and Wednesday: Children, Dairy and Sheep
Tuesday August 4 is Kids and Family Day, named for Herbruck’s Blue Spring Chicken Farms. Its bill runs from the Open and Youth Dairy Shows through the Little Miss Princess Contest, the Youth Market Swine Show and a 4×4 Pickup and Semi-Truck Pull, with live music by Cody Wilt; the Penn State Master Gardeners appear that day as sponsors of a children’s project, the Spotted Lanternfly Play. Wednesday August 5, Community State Bank Day, turns to the sheep shows and Classic Tractor Pulls, closing its music with the Sweet Blue Revival Band.
Thursday Through Saturday: Seniors, Fireworks and the Sale
Thursday August 6 is Senior Citizens Day, named for F and M Trust and Upward Broadband, with the goat shows, bingo, gas and diesel Tractor Pulls and live music by the River Lee Band. Friday August 7, Phantom Fireworks Day, strings together a Costume Contest, the Youth Barnyard Olympics and ATV Dirt Drag Races, with live music by the Zac Grace Band and fireworks at 9:30 p.m. Saturday August 8, JLG Industries Day, is built around the Fulton County Youth Livestock Sale and Truck Dirt Drags, with live music by the Chris Woodward and Shindiggin’ Band.
The 2025 Fair in Reportage
The 2025 edition stands in local reportage only: it opened on Sunday July 27 with the Open Horse Show, and its headline story was the Fair Queen Contest’s return, the first contest since 2017; Raegan Shindle was crowned 2025 queen in that reportage. Nothing from the 2026 schedule, no sponsor day, act or contest result, may be carried back into 2025, and nothing of 2025’s bill is promised for another year either.
Planning Your Visit
Which Dates to Trust
The fair’s own Schedule of Events gives August 2 to 8, 2026, and the state fair guide agrees; the 2025 fair ran July 27 to August 2 in the Chamber layer and in reportage. The fair’s own homepage already lists the next edition, August 1 to 7, 2027, in a forward listing on that page only.
The 2026 Gate, Day by Day
Every admission figure here comes from the fair’s own 2026 Schedule of Events and stands for 2026 alone. Sunday August 2 carried free admission, including for the evening Fair Queen Contest. From Monday through Saturday the general ladder was seven dollars admission or ten dollars admission with rides, with children age two and under free and rides not included for them; Tuesday alone priced children age twelve and under at seven dollars including rides. On Monday, Armed Forces Day, veterans and active military were free under a sponsored gate arrangement in that layer. Thursday added free admission for seniors age sixty five and older until 5 p.m., the schedule’s own closing hour, and Saturday added free general admission for JLG employees showing a badge. No 2025 admission figure was published in any fair side layer fetched, so the 2025 gate is unverified and may not be filled from 2026, and the ladder is never a standing price. Competition money in the fair’s own layers, such as a fifteen dollar dirt drag registration, a ten dollar pit pass and livestock class premiums, is competitor and premium money, never visitor admission.
Parking: Nothing Published
No parking price, pass term or rule for fair week appears in any fair side layer fetched, and the fair’s own 2026 schedule is silent on parking money. Parking here is therefore unverified entire: this article does not call it free, does not price it, and does not fold it into admission. Parking terms published for the Ohio fairgrounds at Wauseon belong to that fair and cannot fill the gap.
Camping: Nothing Published Either
No fair week camping rate, hookup term or camping rule appears in any fair side layer fetched, so fair camping money and terms are unverified entire. The only camping statement attached to these grounds belongs to a different event on them, an October antique tractor show whose listing offers camping through that show’s own contact; it is not a Fulton County Fair term, and the Ohio fairgrounds’ camping rules are excluded for the same reason.
A Sample Sunday at the Fair
Take the documented 2026 opening Sunday as a model day: arrive in the morning for the Open Horse Show and stay into the evening for Vesper Services and the Fair Queen Contest at 7 p.m. That Sunday in 2026 cost nothing at the gate, the cheapest way to learn the grounds.
Other Fairs With This Name
The county name travels, and the record fences each fair to its own state. Fulton County, New York, has no verifiable fair at all, so nothing from that state can be borrowed in either direction. The Fulton County Fair at Wauseon, Ohio, is a large fair whose spans, gate forms, parking and camping rules are all Ohio’s.
Before You Go
- Confirm the dates for the year of your visit from the fair’s own schedule, because each documented edition stands in its own span.
- Budget from the 2026 ladder only for a 2026 visit: seven dollars at the gate, ten dollars with rides, nothing for children age two and under, whose rides are not included.
- Choose the opening Sunday for a free gate, as the 2026 schedule printed free admission that day.
- If you are sixty five or older, plan a Thursday arrival before 5 p.m., the hour the 2026 senior concession ended.
- If you work for JLG, carry your badge on the Saturday, when the 2026 schedule admitted badge holders free.
- Bring children twelve and under on the Tuesday, when the 2026 schedule priced them at seven dollars including rides.
- Do not expect a published parking price or camping term before you travel, because neither exists in the fair side record.
Beyond the Fairgrounds
The same McConnellsburg site hosts an antique tractor show each October, a fall folk festival whose parade ends at the fairgrounds, and auctions, each a separate event with its own arrangements. In December the grounds carry the Festival of Lights, a separate event whose dates stand in the fair’s own homepage and Chamber layers for their own years and are never fair dates. Around the grounds stands McConnellsburg itself, the county seat.
Why the Week Matters
The fair gathers the county’s farm year into a single public week. Young exhibitors bring animals and projects to be judged through the week and sell at the Fulton County Youth Livestock Sale on the closing Saturday, so the livestock programme ends in a market. The themed days bind local employers, banks and civic sponsors directly into the programme, and the Association behind it works through a board of directors and an annual stockholders’ meeting. For a small rural county, the week is its agricultural showroom, its youth showcase and its reunion at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where exactly is the fair held?
At the Fulton County Fairgrounds in McConnellsburg, the county seat of Fulton County, Pennsylvania. The county directory address is 888 Lincoln Way East, and the East matters, because no authoritative layer supports the opposite direction form in listing layers.
What does admission cost?
In 2026, on the fair’s own schedule, admission was free on the opening Sunday and seven dollars, or ten dollars with rides, on the other days, children age two and under free with rides not included for them. The same schedule freed veterans and active military on the Monday, seniors on the Thursday until 5 p.m., and JLG badge holders on the Saturday. No 2025 gate was published in a fair side layer, so earlier prices are unverified and the 2026 ladder is not a standing price.
Is there parking or camping at the fair?
Neither is documented on the fair side record: no parking price or rule for fair week appears in any layer fetched, and no camping rate, hookup term or rule exists for the fair itself. The camping in one listing belongs to an October tractor show on the same grounds, and Ohio’s parking and camping terms are that fair’s, not this one’s.
How old is the Fulton County Fair?
Reportage bills the 2025 edition the 104th annual, a nonprofit directory gives a founding year of 1919 for the Association, and a mirror of the Association’s social page prints established September 1919. The fair’s own website carries no founding statement, so the honest answer keeps those layers separate and computes nothing from the billing.
What to Expect From the Next Fulton County Pennsylvania Fair Festival
How often is Fulton County Pennsylvania Fair Festival held?
Annually, on this record: each documented edition occupies about a week in late July into early August, and the fair’s own homepage already lists a further edition ahead.
When is the next Fulton County Pennsylvania Fair Festival?
The fair’s own homepage lists the next edition for August 1 to 7, 2027, a forward listing on that page only. The most recent fully documented edition is the 2026 fair, August 2 to 8.
Will the dates change?
They move a little from year to year: the 2025 fair ran July 27 to August 2, the 2026 fair ran August 2 to 8, and the listed 2027 span begins on August 1, so the week shifts by days rather than sitting on fixed dates.
The Fulton County Fair rewards a visitor who reads it on its own terms: a full published schedule, a gate ladder that stands only for its documented year, and a history told honestly in layers. Take the 2026 edition as the model, check the next one in its own record, and the week in McConnellsburg will make sense on arrival.
