Campbell County Wyoming Fair Festival
For ten days in late July and the first days of August, the fairgrounds complex at Gillette fills with the working life of a Wyoming county. The Campbell County Fair is a county fair in the plain sense: young people showing animals they have raised, neighbours entering produce and needlework for judging, a trade show under a big roof, and arena nights that sell their own tickets. It is not a single-gate event, since its own 2026 brochure bills free entertainment from July 29 through August 1 while its arena events carry separate prices.
A Fair at the County Seat
Gillette hosts the fair and is also the county seat of Campbell County. The Wyoming Statutes, Title 18, chapter 1, section 18-1-201(a)(iii), list Campbell County at Gillette, a statute fact standing on its own, while the fair’s own record places every edition at Gillette, so seat and host are proven separately. The venue is CAM-PLEX, a Campbell County-owned multi-event complex of more than one thousand acres, at 1635 Reata Drive, Gillette, WY 82718. CAM-PLEX is the venue and never the organiser.
The fair spreads across CAM-PLEX’s named facilities, listed in the fair’s own schedule key as the Wyoming Center, the Heritage Center, the Energy Hall, the Central Pavilion, the East Pavilion, the Wrangler Arena, Morningside Park, the Plaza, and the Fair Scale Barn. The trade show sits in the Wyoming Center under the Fair Board’s own 2026 agreement. The Fair Office mailing form is Post Office Box 65, Gillette, WY 82717, a mailing form only, never a venue address; an older layer’s Box 66 form stands in its layer only. Fair Board meetings sit at the George Amos Memorial Building in Gillette, a meeting place and never the fairgrounds.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Event | Campbell County Fair, the county fair of Campbell County, Wyoming |
| Host city | Gillette, Wyoming, the county seat, proven from the Wyoming Statutes |
| Venue | CAM-PLEX Multi-Event Facilities, 1635 Reata Drive, Gillette, WY 82718 |
| Organiser | Campbell County Fair Board |
| Season | Late July into the first days of August |
| 2026 edition | Friday, July 24 to Sunday, August 2, 2026, in the fair’s own schedule |
| 2025 edition | July 25 to August 3, 2025, in an Extension newsletter layer only |
| 2027 edition | July 23 to August 1, 2027, already published on the fair’s own fair page |
| Admission shape | No general grounds price published fair-side; free stage entertainment with individually ticketed events |
History With a Missing First Page
No fair-side founding statement for the Campbell County Fair was found in any layer fetched, so the fair’s founding year is unverified and no writer may supply one. The only history-adjacent fair-side layer is the Fair Board’s own February 16, 2021 agenda, whose new business carries a “100th Year Celebration” planning item, billing in an agenda layer from 2021. No founding year may be worked backwards from it, and the agenda does not even state which year the celebration attaches to.
The county’s own history must not be borrowed for the fair. County layers date Campbell County itself to February 13, 1911 for creation and May 23, 1911 for organisation, named for John A. Campbell: county dates, never the fair’s founding. The fair’s presence at CAM-PLEX is documented for the current era, in layers from 2021 through 2027, and no layer fetched states when the fair moved there or where it was held before, so no earlier home may be invented.
For a useful comparison, see the Big Horn County Wyoming Fair Festival for another county festival.
The organiser across the fair’s own record is the Campbell County Fair Board, whose trade-show agreement is made by Campbell County on its behalf. Its Fair Coordinator is fenced to the years: Liz Slattery in the 2026 agenda layers, and Liz Edwards in the February 2021 agenda layer, never merged into one person. Board officers are persons in their agenda layers only, among them chairman Stephanie Styvar in the 2026 layers. CAM-PLEX and the Campbell County Public Land Board operate the venue, never the fair, and University Extension, 4-H, and FFA run youth programme components, never the fair itself.
What to Expect
A Two-Part Fair
Its 2026 brochure bills free entertainment from July 29 through August 1, and its own blog bills free stage entertainment and free Plaza activities. Money changes hands only at named events, and a general gate price is unverified. Visitors should therefore expect a fair that can be walked for free in its stage and Plaza areas, with tickets bought event by event.
The 2026 Week, Day by Day
The 2026 edition ran from Friday, July 24 through Sunday, August 2, 2026, in the fair’s own schedule and brochure layers. The opening weekend of July 24 to 26 is billed as the first weekend, the full public programme with the trade show and free entertainment ran from July 29 through August 1, and the Youth Livestock Sale closed the fair at one in the afternoon on August 2. One filing detail deserves a note: the county document slots holding the 2026 schedule and brochure carry 2025 file names, an artefact of reused slots, while the documents’ own contents are the 2026 editions.
Friday, July 24 opened with the 4-H Dog Show, fabric and fashion judging, and camper check-in, closing with the Demolition Derby Friday Night Bash at seven in Morningside Park. Saturday, July 25 brought the Youth Horse Show, a farmers market, the Patriot Charity BBQ, the 4-H Cat Show, and the Demolition Derby Saturday Night Bash at seven, with a two-night derby purse of forty thousand dollars in the fair’s own blog layer. Sunday, July 26 carried the Youth Horse Show, the Miss Campbell County Pageant, the Betty Hough Memorial PeeWee Rodeo, and the style show. Monday, July 27 held the Supreme Cow Contest and the Farm Bureau Goat Roping. Tuesday, July 28 brought market weigh-ins, open-class entries, and Pig Wrestling at half past seven. Wednesday, July 29 was Kids’ Field-Trip Day, the trade show opened, and the Blue Ribbon Kids’ Zone and Plaza entertainment began. Thursday, July 30 held the Sheep Show and Sheep Lead, poultry shows, and the Showmanship Showdown. Friday, July 31 brought the Swine Show, the Ranch Rodeo at six, and Lonestar at eight in the Heritage Center Theater. Saturday, August 1 carried the Youth Beef Show, the Pioneer Dinner, Dachshund Races, and the Thrill Extravaganza Circus Stunt Show at seven. Sunday, August 2 closed with Round Robin Showmanship and the Youth Livestock Sale.
Free-stage acts named in the 2026 brochure layer were The Imaginaries, the Kelly McDonald Band, The Silver Starlets, and Circus Zirkus, all 2026 layers only.
The Ticketed Nights, Priced Event by Event
The 2026 event ladder comes from the fair’s own brochure, corroborated by the fair’s own schedule, each price fenced to 2026 and to its event. The Demolition Derby on Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25, at seven in Morningside Park, cost nineteen dollars for adults, ten dollars for youth aged six to twelve, and free for children five and under; the blog layer states the nineteen-dollar figure as including CAM-PLEX fees. Pig Wrestling on Tuesday, July 28, at half past seven, the Ranch Rodeo on Friday, July 31, at six, and the Thrill Extravaganza Circus Stunt Show on Saturday, August 1, at seven, all in Morningside Park, each cost twelve dollars for adults, seven dollars for youth aged six to twelve, and free for children five and under. The Patriot Charity BBQ on Saturday, July 25, from half past one to half past four in the afternoon at the Marquee Campground, hosted by Gillette Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7756, cost twenty dollars per person, with children twelve and under free, a fundraiser admission in the fair’s own schedule and brochure layers, never a fair gate.
Lonestar played on Friday, July 31, at eight in the evening in the Heritage Center Theater, presented by CAM-PLEX in the brochure layer. The act, date, and venue are that layer’s, and the concert’s ticket price is unverified fair-side, since no price appears in any fair layer fetched. Trade-show booth rents are vendor terms in the Fair Board’s own 2026 agreement, never visitor prices.
Planning Your Visit
Getting There and Getting Around the Grounds
Aim for CAM-PLEX at 1635 Reata Drive in Gillette, and use the fair’s own facility names when reading the schedule. The Wyoming Center holds the trade show, Morningside Park holds the ticketed arena nights, the Heritage Center Theater holds the concert, and the Plaza holds the free entertainment.
Money, Parking, and Camping, Stated Plainly
No general visitor parking price is published for any year, and parking is never called free on this record. The only parking rule on the record is a vendor rule in the Fair Board’s own 2026 trade-show agreement: no parking on the north, east, or west side of the Wyoming Center, with vendors in the South Parking Lot only during the July 29 to August 1 trade show.
Camping at the fair is on CAM-PLEX’s own campgrounds, named in the fair’s own 2026 brochure map as the Marquee, Boxelder, Energy Windmill, and Reata campgrounds, with camper check-in from nine in the morning to seven in the evening on July 24, 25, and 26. CAM-PLEX’s own facilities layer counts one thousand seven hundred thirty RV sites with thirty-amp and fifty-amp hookups across the complex. No fair-week camping rate is published fair-side, so the rate is unverified, and other events’ camping rates may never fill it.
A Sample Two-Day Visit
A visitor with two days could spend the first day on the free side of the fair, the trade show, the kids’ zone, and the livestock barns, closing with a ticketed arena night. A second day could follow the youth livestock shows and the afternoon contests, then the Thrill Extravaganza Circus Stunt Show, with the Youth Livestock Sale closing the week on Sunday.
Comparison: What This Fair Is Not
The Campbell County Fair at Gillette is not the Wyoming State Fair at Douglas, and no fact from that state fair belongs here. It is not the National High School Finals Rodeo, a separate tenant event at CAM-PLEX, and the rodeo’s housing and camping rates are that event’s, never this fair’s. It is not the International Pathfinder Camporee, another tenant event whose August 2024 occupation prompted a 2023 layer to anticipate the fair moving up a week or two in 2024; that anticipation stands in its layer only, and no 2024 span is asserted. It is not any other state’s Campbell County fair, and every one of those fairs is quarantined by state. A Roosevelt County fair-centennial article contributes nothing, an excluded template layer inventing a roller-coaster midway is quarantined entire, and CAM-PLEX’s year-round calendar is venue programming outside fair week.
Checklist
- Head for CAM-PLEX at 1635 Reata Drive in Gillette
- Treat the fair as free stage entertainment plus individually ticketed arena events, never as one general gate
- Buy derby, pig wrestling, ranch rodeo, and stunt show tickets by event, each at its own 2026 price
- Remember the Patriot Charity BBQ as a fundraiser admission, not a fair gate
- Plan parking without a published visitor price
- Use the four named CAM-PLEX campgrounds, and expect no published fair-week camping rate
- Keep 2025 to its span only, and 2027 to its dates only
- Keep the fair’s founding unverified
Beyond the Fairgrounds
Gillette rewards a slower look once the fair day ends. Visitors can spend a morning downtown before the grounds open, returning for the evening arena events, and the town beyond the grounds is best enjoyed as the host city.
Why This Fair Matters
The Campbell County Fair matters because it still does the county fair’s central job in public. Young people raise animals, show them, and sell them at the Youth Livestock Sale, and the fair’s own schedule gives that work the full week. Open-class exhibits, the trade show, and the free stage programme sit beside the ticketed arena nights without pretending to be the same thing. The fair’s record is unusually frank about what it does not publish: no general gate price, no fair-week camping rate, no visitor parking price, and no founding year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there one ticket that covers the whole fair?
No general grounds admission price is published in any fair-side layer fetched, and no single ticket covering the whole fair is documented. The fair’s own 2026 terms are free stage and Plaza entertainment with individually ticketed arena events, each priced by event in its own brochure.
Where is the fair held, and who runs it?
The fair is held at CAM-PLEX Multi-Event Facilities, 1635 Reata Drive, Gillette, WY 82718, in the county seat of Campbell County. The organiser is the Campbell County Fair Board, with the county acting on its behalf in its own agreement form.
When was the fair founded?
The fair’s founding year is unverified, since no fair-side founding statement was found in any layer fetched. The Fair Board’s February 16, 2021 agenda carries a “100th Year Celebration” planning item, billing in an agenda layer from 2021, and no founding year may be worked backwards from it. The county’s 1911 creation is county history, never the fair’s founding.
Can visitors camp at the fair, and what does parking cost?
Camping is on CAM-PLEX’s own campgrounds, named in the fair’s own 2026 brochure map as the Marquee, Boxelder, Energy Windmill, and Reata campgrounds, with camper check-in on the opening days. No fair-week camping rate is published fair-side, so the rate is unverified, and no general visitor parking price is published for any year, so that price is unverified too.
What to Expect From the Next Campbell County Wyoming Fair Festival
How often is Campbell County Wyoming Fair Festival held?
The fair is an annual event in late July into the first days of August, with editions documented for 2025, 2026, and 2027. The 2026 edition ran from Friday, July 24 through Sunday, August 2, 2026, and the 2027 edition is already published for July 23 through August 1, 2027.
When is the next Campbell County Wyoming Fair Festival?
The next edition published on the fair’s own fair page is July 23 through August 1, 2027, dates only on this record, with no programme, price, parking, or camping term published yet for 2027.
Will the dates change?
The dates move within the late July and early August window from year to year: July 25 through August 3 in 2025, July 24 through August 2 in 2026, and July 23 through August 1 in 2027. Visitors should check the fair’s own published dates for the year they plan to attend, since no span from one year may be printed for another.
The Campbell County Fair at Gillette is best approached as the fair describes itself: free entertainment in its middle days, ticketed nights in its arena, and young people’s livestock work at its centre. Go for the barns and the trade show in the daytime, and choose the arena nights by name and price.
