Addison County Vermont Fair & Field Days Festival
For five days each summer, Field Days Road in New Haven fills with cattle trailers, horse vans and families heading for the barns. The occasion is the Addison County Fair & Field Days, Addison County’s big agricultural gathering in Vermont, a working farm show wrapped inside a country fair.
The fair’s homepage calls Field Days Vermont’s largest agricultural fair and says it has gathered the best of the state’s farming traditions in New Haven since 1948. That superlative is the fair’s own billing, repeated in state tourism layers, carried here as billing rather than as a measured ranking. The documented shape needs no superlative: five days of livestock judging, horse shows, pulling contests, exhibits, demonstrations and midway rides.
New Haven Hosts, Whatever the Paperwork Suggests
The Addison County Fairgrounds stand in the town of New Haven, and the fair’s own homepage says the event is held each summer in New Haven, Vermont. Two other county places can mislead: Middlebury is the county’s shire town, yet no layer places this fair there, and Vergennes is a separate city whose name appears only inside a postal form of the grounds address.
The fair’s own 2026 schedule names its working spaces, among them the Dairy Palace Arena, the Butterfield Arena, the Lucien D. Paquette Exhibit Building, the Children’s Barnyard, the Maple Sugarhouse and the Forestry Building.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Event | Addison County Fair & Field Days, also carried in event layers as Addison County Fair and Field Days |
| Host town | New Haven, Vermont |
| Grounds address | 1790 Field Days Road, New Haven, VT 05491, in the 2025 event layer |
| Shire town | Middlebury, in the Vermont Statutes, and not the host |
| Organiser forms | Addison County Fair and Field Days, Inc. in event layers; Addison County Fair & Field Days on the fair’s own forms |
| Season | Five days spanning late July into early or mid August |
| 2026 edition | August 4 to August 8, 2026, in the fair’s own schedule |
| 2027 edition | August 3 to August 7, 2027, billed on the fair’s own homepage |
| Gate admission | No fair-side price list in the record; figures stand in layers by year |
| Camping | Permit camping under the fair’s own 2026 form |
A Beginning in Layers: 1948 and Its Neighbours
The starting point rests on the fair’s own sentence: its homepage states that since 1948, Addison County Fair & Field Days has brought together the very best of Vermont’s agricultural traditions. Valley Voice local-history layers agree, saying Field Days was started in 1948, crediting Lucien Paquette as the grandfather of this event, and describing an educational programme for farm and homemaking practices. A state tourism layer retells the origin as legend, picturing a borrowed hayfield start; that scene is legend in its layer, not documentation.
For a useful comparison, see the Washington County Rhode Island Fair Festival for another county festival.
The young fair moved before settling: local-history layers record four years in the 1950s on the grounds of the UVM Morgan Horse Farm, and a reminiscence layer adds an earlier Weybridge era, both history placements and never the current host. A 1902 archive listing attaching a society name to a Middlebury fair belongs to a different era’s event, so that society name is never this fair’s organiser and its September dates never this fair’s span, while Addison County’s own 1785 founding is a county date only. The modern run carries one documented break: a local-news report of the board’s May 5, 2020 announcement states that the Board of Directors cancelled that year’s August fair for COVID-19 while planning to resume in 2021, a single-year cancellation that bars any claim of an unbroken run. Edition billings conflict too, with 2026 billed as the 77th in a guide layer and as the 78th year in a Seven Days layer, so no edition count is asserted and no founding year is worked backwards from them.
What to Expect on the Grounds
The 2026 Programme in the Fair’s Own Schedule
Everything here belongs to the fair’s own 2026 Daily Fair Schedule unless another year is named. Running across its days were Maple Sugar House demonstrations, the Children’s Barnyard, antique equipment demonstrations and milking-parlor demonstrations. Free mini golf and chain-saw artist demonstrations were billed as new that year.
Tuesday, the opening day, brought the Gymkhana, a Power Wheel Derby, the Vermont Products Dinner in two seatings, an Opening Celebration, the local band Magnetic Horse and a Demolition Derby. Wednesday paired an Open Dairy Show with Ox Pulling, a Ladies Iron Skillet Toss, Karaoke Talent Night with DJ Amanda Rock and another Demolition Derby. Thursday turned to the Open Horse Show, the Hand Mowing Contest, the Dark Horse Lumberjack Show and an Animal Costume Class.
Friday stacked VTPA pulls, Pony Pulling, the Draft Horse Show and a Working Steer and Ox Show. Saturday closed with an Open Dairy Show, Horse Pulling, a Six Horse Hitch billed as a North American Classic Six qualifier, NYTPA tractor pulls, a Baked Bean Contest and the 40th Army band IRON SIGHTS playing rock.
A Theme in Two Wordings, and Earlier Bills in Their Years
The 2026 parade theme survives in two forms the record does not merge: the homepage words it Carnival Lights & Country Nights, while the schedule words the Opening Celebration theme Country Nights, Carnival Lights. Earlier bills stay in their years: in its event layer, 2022 ran the Aaron Audet Band, Phil Hoyt, Toast, a Draft Horse Show with NYTPA tractor pulls, a Nickel & Dime dance band, Pitz Quattrone and closing fireworks, while the 2023 characterisation mentioned a Circus Adventure, racing pigs, Cairo Northern Clowns and a closing square dance with fireworks, none of it carried into 2026, whose own closing-night music was IRON SIGHTS.
Planning Your Visit Without Guessing
Addresses, a Postal Form and a Shire Town
The grounds address in the 2025 event layer is 1790 Field Days Road, New Haven, VT 05491, the form to navigate by. The fair’s own 2026 camper form gives its return address as 1790 Field Days Road, Vergennes, VT 05491, a postal-city form standing beside the New Haven form without displacing it; Vergennes does not host the fair, and the two city names are never merged here. Vermont law explains the remaining town, since the Vermont Statutes, Title 24, section 2, state that Middlebury is the shire town, proven from the statute alone, and New Haven is never described as the shire town in its place.
Admission, Layer by Layer
No current gate-price list from the fair’s own site appears in the record, so every figure stands inside its reporting layer. For the July 29 to August 2, 2025 edition, a listing layer reported fifteen dollars admission, twenty dollars on August 2, and five dollars for ages 6 to 11. For 2026, an event layer gave fifteen dollars Tuesday through Friday, cutting off before any Saturday figure and leaving that price unverified, while a summer preview layer offered only a five-to-sixty-dollar range, never broken down here into tiers.
Older layers keep their money. A 2023 event layer set admission at thirteen dollars, five dollars for ages 6 to 11, free entry for children 5 and younger and for seniors on Tuesday with a Green Mountain Passport, including grandstand events, shows, exhibits and parking, with ride wristbands at twenty-five dollars, in 2023 only. The 2022 layer repeated that structure, with season passes at forty-five dollars or fifteen dollars for ages 6 to 11. The fair’s own 2016 handbook charged ten dollars Tuesday through Friday, twelve dollars Saturday only, a forty-dollar season pass and five dollars daily for children aged 6 to 11, figures never presented as a later year’s gate. The 2026 horse show form priced classes at five dollars, day-of-show entries at six dollars and box stalls at fifteen dollars as exhibitor money, while the 2026 schedule priced ride bracelets at twenty-five dollars as midway money only.
Parking, Stated Only Where the Record States It
Parking can be promised for exactly two editions, because the 2022 and 2023 event layers both reported admission including parking. No fair-side parking price and no promise of free parking was published for 2024, 2025, 2026 or 2027 in any layer fetched, so parking for those years is unverified and no charge is invented for any year.
Camping Under the Fair’s Own 2026 Form
Camping here is a documented system with paperwork, since the fair’s own 2026 camper and tent form set camper fees at sixty dollars per day or two hundred twenty-five dollars per week and tent designated areas at ten dollars a night, across the categories Beef, Dairy, Horse, Sheep, Vendor and Other. All camping was by permit with payment in full in advance, a form deadline of July 18 and proof of insurance for the hauling vehicle. Fees include water, electrical hookups and wastewater removal yet expressly do not include admission, a tent in a camper spot paid the full camping rate, and any general public walk-up offer beyond those categories is undocumented and unverified. The 2016 handbook shows how far terms move: camping then cost one hundred fifty dollars a week or thirty-five dollars a night, plus a season pass for every person staying, figures standing in 2016 only and never merged with the 2026 form.
One Saturday, Hour by Hour
A closing Saturday built from the 2026 schedule might begin in the barns with the Open Dairy Show, then drift to the Maple Sugar House and Children’s Barnyard before Horse Pulling takes the strip. The afternoon leaves room for the exhibit building and the Baked Bean Contest, before the Six Horse Hitch and IRON SIGHTS close the night.
Neighbours by Name Only
The Champlain Valley Fair at Essex Junction, the Vermont State Fair at Rutland, Franklin County Field Days, Lamoille County Field Days and the Tunbridge World’s Fair share a calendar with this fair and nothing else. None of their superlatives, founding stories, admission prices or camping terms belongs to New Haven. A Vermont Ag Olympics fundraiser at these fairgrounds in a June 2025 layer, like weddings and rentals, is grounds activity whose entry money is not the fair’s.
A Fairgoer’s Checklist
- Confirm the current year’s dates before travelling, since the span moves between late July and mid August
- Navigate to 1790 Field Days Road in New Haven, treating any Vergennes form as postal only
- Read the newest admission layer for your year instead of trusting an older season’s prices
- Keep ride bracelet money separate from gate money when budgeting the day
- Remember that documented camping fees never included admission
- Build the visit around one day’s schedule sheet rather than chasing everything
- Treat Middlebury as the shire town to read about and New Haven as the town to drive to
Beyond the Fairgrounds
Fair week can anchor a wider look at Addison County. Middlebury, the shire town named in the Vermont Statutes, carries the county’s legal history while remaining a separate trip from the New Haven grounds, and Vergennes, whose name appears in the fair’s postal form, is its own place rather than an extension of the fairgrounds.
Who Runs It, and Why It Matters
In event layers the presenter form reads Addison County Fair and Field Days, Inc., while the fair’s own documents use Addison County Fair & Field Days as payee on the horse show form and addressee on the camper form, kept unmerged here as the record keeps them. The homepage describes the organisation as a non-profit, a status statement rather than a third name, and no state agency, fairs association, extension service or named individual is the organiser on this record. That locally run structure puts livestock shows beside forestry exhibits and a products dinner for one concentrated week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Addison County Fair & Field Days actually held?
The fair is held at the Addison County Fairgrounds in New Haven, at 1790 Field Days Road, New Haven, VT 05491 in the 2025 event layer. A Vergennes form of that address appears as the postal return address inside the fair’s own 2026 camper form and does not move the grounds. Middlebury is the shire town under the Vermont Statutes and does not host.
How much does admission cost?
No fair-side gate list exists in the record, so the answer depends on the year’s layer. A listing layer for 2025 reported fifteen dollars, rising to twenty dollars on August 2 that year, with five dollars for ages 6 to 11. A 2023 layer reported thirteen dollars with parking and grandstand events included, while the 2016 handbook charged ten dollars on weekdays and twelve dollars on Saturday.
Can anyone camp at the fairgrounds during the fair?
Camping is documented through the fair’s own 2026 form, covering Beef, Dairy, Horse, Sheep, Vendor and Other at sixty dollars per day or two hundred twenty-five dollars per week, with tent areas at ten dollars a night. That form required a permit and payment in full in advance. A general walk-up offer beyond those categories is not documented.
Who runs the fair, and how old is it?
Event layers present the fair through Addison County Fair and Field Days, Inc., while its own forms use Addison County Fair & Field Days, and those names are not merged here. For age, the homepage states since 1948 and local-history layers agree the event started that year. Edition billings conflict, with 2026 called both the 77th and the 78th year, so no edition number settles the question.
What to Expect From the Next Addison County Vermont Fair & Field Days Festival
How often is Addison County Vermont Fair & Field Days Festival held?
The festival is held once a year across five days spanning late July into early or mid August. The 2025 edition ran from July 29 to August 2 and the 2026 edition from August 4 to August 8, each in its own layers. Its one documented interruption is 2020, when the board cancelled that year’s fair and planned to resume the following year.
When is the next Addison County Vermont Fair & Field Days Festival?
After the August 4 to August 8, 2026 edition in the fair’s own schedule, the next edition is billed on the fair’s own homepage for August 3 to August 7, 2027. No span beyond 2027 appears in the record.
Will the dates change?
Documented editions already show the span drifting, from August 6 to August 10 in a 2024 layer to a late-July start in 2025 and early-August spans in 2026 and in the 2027 homepage billing. Nothing fixes the fair to one permanent set of calendar days, so checking the fair’s own current schedule before travelling remains the reliable habit.
Read carefully, the record behind this fair teaches as much as the event itself: a shire town that does not host, a postal city that is not the grounds, prices belonging to single years and a beginning resting on the fair’s own words. Taken on those terms, Field Days rewards the visitor arriving for the hitch classes and the one who wants to understand how a Vermont county fair actually works.
