Columbiana County Ohio Fair Festival
The racetrack came first, and it never left. When the Columbiana County Fair opens in Lisbon each summer, its signature sound is still harness racing on a half-mile track laid out in 1853, the year the Columbiana County Agricultural Society bought the grounds the fair still occupies. Around the track, the fair has grown into a full late-summer week of livestock judging, open-class halls, a midway, and a nightly changing grandstand card. Lisbon is both the county seat and the fair town, and the fair’s own invitation is to wheel on down to the fairgrounds on Lee Avenue, a slogan in the fair’s own layers, never the event’s name.
About the Fair
The Columbiana County Fair is a weeklong county fair in late July and early August, run by the Columbiana County Agricultural Society. The Society is a county agricultural society corporation under Chapter 1711 of the Ohio Revised Code. The state auditor’s layer records it as founded in 1845 to operate an annual agricultural fair, governed by a board of twelve directors serving staggered three-year terms. Its working forms appear in different layers: the Senior Fair Board plans the fair, the Fair Board and Board of Directors forms appear in the history and press layers, and the Junior Fair Committees, Junior Fair Board and Junior Livestock Sale Committee are youth bodies in their own layers, never the fair’s organiser. The fair’s own site gives the grounds as 225 Lee Avenue, Lisbon, Ohio 44432. Lisbon is a village.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Event | Columbiana County Fair, in Lisbon, Ohio |
| Organiser | Columbiana County Agricultural Society |
| Grounds | Columbiana County Fairgrounds, 225 Lee Avenue, Lisbon, Ohio 44432 |
| Town and county seat | Lisbon, the county seat, hosts the fair |
| Season | Late July into early August, a weeklong fair |
| Latest documented run | August 3 to 9, 2026 |
| Previous documented run | Entry Day July 28, 2025, then July 29 to August 3, 2025 |
| Signature | Harness racing on the half-mile track built in 1853 |
| Admission in priced years | Ten dollars in 2022, 2024 and a 2025 summary layer |
| Camping | Reservation-only system, no price published |
How the Fair Reached These Grounds
The fair’s own history keeps three facts separate. In 1845, citizens met at what was then New Lisbon, and a constitution and by-laws were adopted and the Society was established. The first fair location, in that history layer, was vacant land along East Washington Street in Lisbon. On March 5, 1851, the Society was reorganised, a reorganisation layer never merged with the 1845 establishment into a single founding. In early 1853 the present grounds were purchased, and the first fair at the new grounds ran in late September 1853, with premiums totalling less than seventeen dollars. The 1853 first fair at these grounds is never printed here as the fair’s founding, because the Society’s establishment eight years earlier was at a different first location.
The edition billings stand in their years, unreconciled, and no founding is derived from any of them. Press layers bill the 161st fair in 2006, the 173rd year in 2018, and the 174th fair in 2019. As 2020 approached, the fair’s own history page says the fair prepared to celebrate its 175th birthday, a birthday wording for a year in which the full fair did not run, since the pandemic reduced the 2020 fair to a Market Project Junior Fair only. Counted naively, the 161st, 173rd and 174th billings point to 1846, while the 175th birthday wording points to 1845. No edition number for 2025 or 2026 is printed as settled here. The grounds have grown in the fair’s own layer to almost 90 acres, against a 2006 press layer’s approximately 140 acres.
What to Expect
Harness Racing on the 1853 Track
Harness racing is the fair’s signature, and the fair’s own history claims it in its own words: harness racing has thrilled fair audiences since the construction of the original racetrack in 1853. Two days of harness racing appear in the schedule layers, and the auditor layer records the fair-week harness races as culminating in the Home Talent Colt Stakes.
For a useful comparison, see the Clinton County Ohio Corn Festival for another county festival.
A Grandstand That Changes Its Contest Nightly
The grandstand card documented across the press layers changes its sport almost every night, and each element belongs to its year. Truck and tractor pull extravaganzas appear in the 2018 and 2019 layers, with Smoke and Noise and Power Pull pulls in 2022. Bull riding and barrel racing appear in 2018 and 2019, and SEBRA Extreme Bull Riding and Barrel Racing with mutton busting in 2022. The combine demolition derby appears in 2018 and 2019, at noon on the final Sunday in 2009, and on Sunday with the car derby in 2022, while the car derby finale fell on August 4 in 2019, with a Smash It car derby in 2022. KOI drag racing ran on Thursday in 2022.
Seven Youth Organisations in the Junior Fair
The Junior Fair is the fair’s youth core, defined on its own site as the part of the Columbiana County Fair devoted to the activities of seven youth organisations within the county: 4-H, Future Farmers of America, Campfire, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Grange, and Farm Bureau. Market hog, lamb, steer, beef feeder and dairy judging take place in the Coliseum and the beef complex, while dairy goat, pygmy goat, llama, rabbit and poultry judging fill their own barns and rings, and horse and pony contests run in the horse arena. The livestock sales follow in the schedule layers. The 4-H King and Queen are crowned at the opening ceremonies at the grandstand. The Junior Fair is a division of the one county fair, never a separate event.
Halls, Barns and the Midway
Beyond the track and the grandstand, the open and still exhibits fill the schedule layers: arts and crafts, textile and art judging, canned and baked goods judging with a benefit auction, herb, horticulture and flower judging, hay, grain and silage judging, and the antique farm machinery show beside the Items of Yesteryear display. The grounds fabric in the fair’s own layers includes the Coliseum, the horse arena, the J. Herbert Thompson beef complex, the rabbit, turkey and chicken complex, and the Arts and Crafts, Hay and Grain and Junior Fair buildings. The redesigned rides midway was completed in 2010.
Planning Your Visit
Dates and the Way In
The latest documented run, agreed across the state list, the entry system and the Junior Fair’s own site, is August 3 to 9, 2026. The previous run, on the fair’s own information page, began with Entry Day on Monday, July 28, 2025, gates opening at 3:00 in the afternoon, then ran Tuesday, July 29 to Sunday, August 3, gates opening at 8:00 in the morning. That page prints 2024 after Sunday, August 3, a misprint recorded here and never silently corrected, and the 2025 fair is never dated to 2024 on its strength. Earlier runs stand in their layers: July 29 to August 4, 2024, and August 1 to 7, 2022.
Entry follows the fair’s own gate rules. Public lots sit north of Saltwell Road off State Route 45, with a shuttle wagon service to the grounds, and visitors enter over the historic bridge or through the lower-midway gate. Gate A serves handicapped visitors, pass holders and buyers; Gate B is exit only; the Vista Gate serves concession and exhibitor pass holders only.
Prices Belong to Their Year
Every admission figure here belongs to its own year’s layer, and no figure is carried into another year. The fullest 2025 ladder retrieved comes from a local newsletter summary of the fair’s published information, its figures kept year-fenced and never presented as fair-own prices: general admission Tuesday to Sunday, all day, ten dollars, rides included; grandstand events additional unless free; Friday and Saturday pulls and the Sunday derby ten dollars reserved, combine derby free; five and under free; uniformed service members free; Tuesday only, seniors sixty-two and over and veterans with identification free; Bike Night riders free. For 2026, no specific general-admission figure is printed here, because none is published in the fair-own layers fetched.
Earlier ladders stand in their own layers. A listing layer gives general admission of ten dollars for 2024. A 2022 press report states the cost as ten dollars all day, with no price break for coming earlier. The 2018 and 2019 layers agree on six dollars weekdays until 3:00 in the afternoon and eight dollars after 3:00 and on weekends, rides included, with Tuesday seniors sixty-two and over and veterans free, and most grandstand events included with admission in those layers. No parking price is published in any fair-own layer fetched, so none is printed here, and premiums, entry fees and rentals are never treated as admission.
Camping by Reservation, With No Published Price
Event camping is documented on the fair’s own Camping Info page, under a reservation-only system, and no camping price is published in any layer fetched, so none is printed here for any year. Assigned locations have been issued to previous campers, payments are due by June 1 or the location is lost, and remaining sites are filled first-come, first-pay. All Class A campers are assigned a lot at Rosebud Campground only, a fairgrounds campground area in the fair’s own layer, never a separate commercial park. No alcohol or drugs are permitted on the fairgrounds including the campgrounds, on pain of removal and forfeiture of the site for the following year. Waste-water pumping is by sign-up the night before, fire extinguishers are required in each unit, and no bicycles are permitted in the campground layer. The page names campground manager Katie McCoy in that layer only, never a fair officer.
A Fair Week, Paced Day by Day
Begin on Entry Day afternoon, when the grounds fill with arrivals and livestock settling into the barns. The opening ceremonies, with the 4-H King and Queen crowning at the grandstand, mark the formal opening. Mornings that follow belong to judging, afternoons to the halls and the museum, and evenings to the grandstand, where two days of harness racing anchor the week. The closing weekend brings the livestock sales and the demolition derbies.
Two Gate Ladders, Compared Honestly
In 2018 and 2019, the gate was a split ladder: six dollars weekdays until 3:00 in the afternoon, eight dollars after 3:00 and on weekends, rides included, Tuesday free for seniors and veterans. By 2022, that split was gone, and the press layer states the cost plainly as ten dollars all day. The 2025 summary layer keeps the ten-dollar all-day figure with rides included, but prices the Friday and Saturday pulls and the Sunday derby at ten dollars reserved, the combine derby free.
Visitor Checklist
- Arrive through the Saltwell Road lots and the historic bridge, or use Gate A with a pass or for handicapped access.
- Plan around Entry Day and the opening ceremonies; the fair’s own shape runs Monday Entry Day followed by Tuesday to Sunday.
- Treat every admission figure as belonging to its year, and confirm the current year’s gate before travelling.
- Give the harness racing its due: two days on the half-mile track, building to the Home Talent Colt Stakes in the auditor layer.
- Spend a morning with the Junior Fair’s seven youth organisations, from market judging to horse contests.
- Book camping only through the fair’s reservation system, well before the June 1 payment date, and expect no published price.
Beyond the Fairgrounds
Lisbon itself is part of the visit, because the fair’s history begins on its streets. The first fair location in the history layer was vacant land along East Washington Street, in the village then called New Lisbon. Beyond the fence, the county’s eighteen townships give their names to the fairgrounds roadways, a reminder that the fair draws from across the whole county. The fair’s town remains Lisbon, the seat, in every fair-side layer.
Why This Fair Still Matters to Columbiana County
The fair matters because it has kept its oldest contest alive on its oldest ground. Harness racing on a track laid out in 1853, in the fair’s own continuity claim, still anchors a week that also makes room for seven youth organisations, open-class judging, and a nightly reinvented grandstand. The combine demolition derby, a documentary subject in 2007, shows how a working fair can turn its own machinery into spectacle. Its history is honest about interruptions too: a reorganisation in 1851, a move to new grounds in 1853, and a pandemic year reduced to a junior fair only. That layered past is what makes the present week legible: a county fair in its county seat, on grounds its own society has owned since 1853.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Columbiana County Fair held?
The fair is held at the Columbiana County Fairgrounds, 225 Lee Avenue, Lisbon, Ohio 44432. Lisbon is the county seat and hosts the fair, and the fair is never held in the city of Columbiana, a different town in the same county.
When does the fair take place?
The fair is a weeklong late-July into early-August fair, shaped as a Monday Entry Day followed by Tuesday to Sunday. The latest documented run is August 3 to 9, 2026, and the previous run began with Entry Day on Monday, July 28, 2025, then ran to Sunday, August 3, 2025.
What did admission cost in the documented years?
Ten dollars is documented as the all-day gate in 2022, as general admission in a 2024 listing layer, and as the Tuesday to Sunday all-day gate with rides included in a 2025 summary layer. The 2018 and 2019 gate was a split ladder of six dollars weekdays until 3:00 in the afternoon and eight dollars after 3:00 and on weekends, rides included. No specific 2026 general-admission figure is printed here, because none is published in the fair-own layers fetched.
Can visitors camp at the fairgrounds during fair week?
Yes, under the fair’s own reservation-only camping system, with assigned locations for previous campers, a June 1 payment date in the camping layer, and Class A campers assigned to Rosebud Campground only. No camping price is published in any layer fetched, so none is printed here.
What to Expect From the Next Columbiana County Ohio Fair Festival
How often is Columbiana County Ohio Fair Festival held?
The fair is held annually, as a weeklong late-July into early-August fair in Lisbon.
When is the next Columbiana County Ohio Fair Festival?
The latest documented run is August 3 to 9, 2026, and the next run follows the fair’s annual late-July into early-August shape. No later run is published in the layers fetched.
Will the dates change?
The dates move from year to year within the late-July into early-August season, so confirm the current year’s dates before travelling.
The fair rewards the visitor who treats the racetrack as its centre: harness racing on ground the Society has owned since 1853, livestock and halls through the days, and a nightly changing grandstand. It is a county fair in its county seat, its Society established in 1845, reorganised in 1851, and on these grounds since 1853.
