Forrest County Mississippi The Great Forrest County Fair Festival
Most county fairs belong to the end of summer, when the harvest is coming in and the nights start to cool. This one belongs to spring: it fills The Center at Forrest County in Hattiesburg in the middle of April, its Ferris wheel turning over Sullivan Drive while the rest of Mississippi’s fair calendar is still months away.
The name at the top of this page is the fair’s own name, word for word. It is a young event that calls itself great without embarrassment: its first running was held in 2025, and the documented 2026 edition was billed as the 2nd Annual. Youth here is not a weakness in the record — it is the record.
Its setting helps explain the confidence. The fair stands at the county’s own arena complex in the seat, presented by that venue in partnership with a national midway company, and it published its dates, hours and gate prices in full. What those prices buy is a full modern fair: a midway anchored by a 90-foot wheel, a tractor show, racing pigs, and evenings running from a five o’clock weekday gate.
A Young Fair With the Word Great in Its Name
The Great Forrest County Fair is held at The Center at Forrest County, 962 Sullivan Drive, Hattiesburg — the James Lynn Cartlidge Forrest County Multipurpose Center, the county-owned arena and fairgrounds complex. Hattiesburg is the county seat, so for once the fair town and the courthouse town are the same place.
The fair is presented by The Center at Forrest County in partnership with North American Midway Entertainment, the midway provider. No separate fair association appears in the record behind this guide; the presenting names are the venue and its partner, kept exactly as published. A fair run by a permanent arena complex raises nothing from scratch each year: the buildings, arena floor and parking already wait on Sullivan Drive.
For a useful comparison, see the Baldwin County Alabama Shrimp Festival for another county festival.
Forrest County Fair Essentials
| Item | The published record |
| Event | The Great Forrest County Fair |
| County | Forrest County |
| State | Mississippi |
| Fair town | Hattiesburg — also the county seat |
| Grounds | The Center at Forrest County, 962 Sullivan Drive, Hattiesburg |
| Presented by | The Center at Forrest County, in partnership with North American Midway Entertainment |
| Documented 2026 edition | April 17 to 25, extended by one day to Sunday, April 26 |
| Season | Mid-spring, April |
| Admission, 2026 | 6 dollars at the gate, 5 dollars online, 4 dollars at the gate for college students, school employees, military and first responders with identification; children 6 and under free |
| Parking | Free |
Two Springs Old, and Counting in Public
The honest history of this fair is short, and this guide refuses to stretch it. The Great Forrest County Fair was first held in 2025, returned in 2026 for a second consecutive year billed as the 2nd Annual, and a 3rd Annual was already listed for April 2027 before the 2026 run had closed. No earlier founding year is asserted anywhere in these pages, because none belongs to this event.
That restraint matters here, because the county’s record also holds an older agricultural-fair history from a different era. That story is real, but it is not this fair’s: the modern event on Sullivan Drive began in 2025, and borrowing an older pedigree for it would be invention, not history.
What it has instead is a growth spurt documented in its own billing: the 2026 edition added a signature ride the first year lacked, ran a day longer than planned, and published the next edition’s season a year ahead.
Nine Days in April
The Giant Wheel Over Sullivan Drive
The headline addition for 2026 was the Giant Wheel, a 90-foot Ferris wheel billed as new for that edition. A wheel that size changes a fair’s geography: visible from the road, it gives the midway a centre and turns the spring skyline into an advertisement for itself — a statement of intent as much as a ride.
Around it stands the midway provided by North American Midway Entertainment, the fair’s partner — rides, games and food stands run by a professional travelling operation that sets up on fairgrounds across the continent.
Tractors and Racing Pigs
Two signature elements keep the fair rooted in its county rather than in the midway alone. The AgUp Tractor Show displays agricultural machinery as an attraction in its own right — a farming county’s working equipment, polished and lined up for an audience that uses the same machines at home.
The Show-Me Swine pig races supply the comedy. Racing pigs are a fairground institution across America, and their presence says something useful about this fair’s intentions: it programmes for families and laughter, not only for the arena, and between the tractors and the pigs its agricultural thread stays visible even inside a modern arena complex.
Evenings on Weekdays, Afternoons on Weekends
The documented 2026 hours gave the fair a distinct rhythm: gates at 5 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. on weekends, with a closure on Monday, April 20, in the middle of the run. Those are the hours of an event built around working families — weekday fairgoing fitted after school and after work, weekends carrying the long afternoons.
One Extra Day: The Last Blast
The 2026 run was scheduled for April 17 to 25 and then grew: the fair extended by one day, to Sunday, April 26, billing it as a BOGO Last Blast Buddy Day, a buy-one-get-one closing offer. Fairs add days when crowds justify them; a second-year fair earning an extra Sunday has evidence its spring experiment is working.
Planning a Spring Trip to Hattiesburg
Tickets: The Gate, the Online Price and the Four-Dollar Door
The 2026 edition published a complete admission ladder, carried here exactly as published and tied to that edition: 6 dollars at the gate, 5 dollars bought online in advance, and a 4-dollar gate price for college students, school employees, military members and first responders showing identification. Children aged 6 and under were admitted free, and parking was free.
Future editions may price differently; no figure from the 2026 ladder is a standing price. What a returning visitor can expect is the structure — a small gate price, a saving for buying ahead, a discount for students, teachers, service members and responders — since structures outlast the numbers hung on them.
Getting to The Center
The grounds stand at 962 Sullivan Drive in Hattiesburg, at the county’s own multipurpose center. As the largest city in this part of Mississippi and the county seat, Hattiesburg puts the fair in the middle of the region’s road network rather than at the end of a country lane, and free parking removes the usual negotiation over the car.
One caution: Hattiesburg extends across the county line into neighbouring Lamar County, so a Hattiesburg address is not automatically a Forrest County one — but the fair’s is, whatever the city’s sprawl does around it.
Timing a Visit Around the Hours
Because weekday gates opened at 5 p.m. in the documented edition, a weekday visit is a planned evening rather than a spontaneous afternoon: midway lights, the wheel against the sky, the grounds at their busiest. Weekend visitors get the longer day, with time for the tractor show and pig races before the evening crowd builds.
The closed Monday is the trap for the unprepared — a visitor assuming a nine-day fair opens daily would have found the gates shut on Monday, April 20, 2026. Checking the published hours for the day of a visit is the most useful habit this fair asks of its guests.
One Saturday at the Fair
Begin at the weekend gate. With the documented weekend opening at 1 p.m., an early-afternoon arrival leaves the day unhurried: walk the grounds once, from the multipurpose center’s arena spaces out to the midway, before committing to anything.
Give the middle of the afternoon to the fair’s own signatures — the pig races while the day is still bright, then the tractor show, where the machines reward a slow look and the owners reward questions. As the light goes, take the Giant Wheel: a 90-foot wheel earns its keep at dusk, when the grounds below are switching on their lights and the city spreads out beyond Sullivan Drive.
Finish in the midway’s evening form — games, food stands and the arena crowd, with no parking fee waiting at the car. Signatures first, wheel at dusk, midway at night: that is the shape this fair was built in.
A Spring Fair Among Autumn Fairs
Most Mississippi county fairs keep the traditional calendar, gathering in late summer and autumn around harvest time. This fair’s April run sets it apart at a glance: it opens the state’s fair season rather than closing it, in the weeks when south Mississippi weather is at its kindest.
Its venue marks a second difference. The classic county fair occupies a dedicated fairground used heavily one week a year; this one occupies a multipurpose center that works all year and borrows its midway from a national provider — less rustic, more produced than the stereotype.
One confusion is worth preventing: the South Mississippi Fair, held in Laurel, is a separate Jones County event with its own record, and nothing about it belongs in these pages. Neighbours, not twins.
Before You Head to Sullivan Drive
- Confirm the dates and hours for the exact day you plan to visit, since the documented edition kept a closed Monday inside its run
- Buy admission online ahead of time if the advance price is offered again, as it was in 2026 at a dollar below the gate
- Carry identification if you are a college student, school employee, service member or first responder, since the published discount depended on it
- Budget nothing for parking, free in the documented edition, but recheck that each year
- Arrive near the 5 p.m. weekday or 1 p.m. weekend gate to see the fair build, not only its peak
- Put the Giant Wheel at dusk on your list, when the midway lights come on below it
- Do not confuse this fair with the South Mississippi Fair in Laurel, a different county’s event
- Keep the venue address, 962 Sullivan Drive, Hattiesburg, in your phone before setting out
Beyond the Fairgrounds in the Hub City
Hattiesburg calls itself the Hub City, a name earned as a railroad and highway crossroads, and a fair trip stretches naturally into the city around the grounds. The University of Southern Mississippi anchors the west side, giving it a college town’s shops, restaurants and evening life alongside older downtown streets.
For walkers and cyclists, the Longleaf Trace runs from the city into the pine country to the northwest, showing the landscape the county’s farms and timber land grew from. South of the city lies Camp Shelby, the large National Guard training site whose presence explains one of the fair’s published courtesies — the discount door kept for military visitors. Give Hattiesburg a full weekend and the fair becomes the city’s spring invitation, with the Hub City close enough to accept it.
Why a Second-Year Fair Matters Here
A county fair is one of the few institutions a county builds for no reason except its own people. Forrest County’s version is significant precisely because it is new: a county and its arena complex deciding, in the mid-2020s, that the old form was worth starting again — not preserving, but starting — with a modern midway, a published price ladder and a wheel tall enough to announce itself across town.
The spring timing deepens it. Planting the fair in April claimed a season of its own instead of a place inside the crowded autumn calendar, giving farmers, students and exhibitors a showcase that arrives before the summer heat. If the listed 3rd Annual follows in April 2027, the experiment becomes a habit — and habits are what traditions are before anyone calls them that.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is The Great Forrest County Fair held?
The fair is held in Hattiesburg, the county seat, at The Center at Forrest County — the county’s multipurpose center and fairgrounds at 962 Sullivan Drive, a permanent complex rather than a field used once a year.
How much does it cost to get in?
For the documented 2026 edition, admission was 6 dollars at the gate or 5 dollars bought online, with a 4-dollar gate price for college students, school employees, military members and first responders showing identification. Children aged 6 and under entered free, and parking was free. Those figures belong to the 2026 edition and may change for later years.
When does the fair run?
The fair is a spring event. Its documented 2026 edition ran from April 17 to 25, extended by one day to Sunday, April 26, with gates at 5 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. on weekends and a closure on the Monday inside the run. A 3rd Annual was listed for April 2027, keeping the fair in its spring season.
Is this the same fair as the South Mississippi Fair in Laurel?
No. The South Mississippi Fair is a separate event in Laurel, Jones County, with its own record. The Great Forrest County Fair is Forrest County’s own event in Hattiesburg, first held in 2025; the two should never be treated as one.
What to Expect From the Next Forrest County Mississippi The Great Forrest County Fair Festival
How often is the Forrest County Mississippi The Great Forrest County Fair Festival held?
The fair is an annual event, held once each year in spring. First held in 2025 and run again in 2026, it already has a 3rd Annual listed for April 2027 — the rhythm of a fair settling into a yearly place on the county’s calendar.
When is the next Forrest County Mississippi The Great Forrest County Fair Festival?
The next edition after the documented 2026 run is the 3rd Annual, listed for April 2027 at The Center at Forrest County in Hattiesburg. Its exact dates rest on the fair’s own future announcements, so a visitor planning ahead should watch for the published schedule rather than assuming the 2026 dates will repeat precisely.
Will the dates change?
They can. The clearest evidence is the documented edition itself: the 2026 fair was scheduled to end on April 25 and was extended by a day, to April 26, while it was running. A young fair is still finding its shape, so its dates, hours and length should be confirmed from its own announcements each year before travel is planned around them.
The Great Forrest County Fair has no century behind it, and does not pretend to. What it has is a county that decided to begin — a spring week in Hattiesburg, a wheel over Sullivan Drive, tractors and racing pigs, prices printed plainly for all to read. Two editions in, that beginning is holding; the third spring will say more.
