McIntosh County North Dakota Tri-County Fair Festival
Wishek does not host a single-county fair. It hosts a gathering point for south central North Dakota, where the Tri-County Fair fills its fairgrounds west of town. The fair town is Wishek, in McIntosh County. The county seat is Ashley, about seventeen miles to the southeast, and visitors who drive to Ashley will find the courthouse town, not the fairgrounds. The fair sits at 8050 38th Avenue Southeast in Wishek, with mail going to Post Office Box 782.
About the Tri-County Fair
The event’s own name is Tri-County Fair, and it runs as a modern annual July fair at Wishek. Its fullest documented programme comes from 2025, when a Thursday to Sunday frame carried a midway, 4-H shows, a ranch rodeo, stock car races, concerts, bingo, a car and tractor show, a church service and a drone light show. Dated details here belong to 2025 unless another year is named. An association was organised in 1926 and a first fair was held in September 1927, but the modern fair is a July event.
Quick Facts
| Item | Documented record |
| Event name | Tri-County Fair |
| Fair town | Wishek, McIntosh County |
| County seat | Ashley, not the fair town |
| Grounds | Tri-County Fairgrounds, Wishek |
| Grounds address | 8050 38th Avenue Southeast, Wishek |
| Season | July, in the modern record |
| Fullest programme | 2025, on a Thursday to Sunday frame |
| 2025 admission line | Fifteen dollars adults, five dollars children aged six to twelve, on the poster |
Who Runs the Fair
Three name forms run through the fair’s record, and they must not be folded into a single body. The legal and state-facing form is Tri County Exhibitors Association, named in the state agriculture department’s July 10, 2025 award of seventy-one thousand eight hundred seventy dollars for facility upgrades, with Jeremy Rohr as contact. That award money is infrastructure money, never a visitor price.
The historic form is Tri-County Exhibitor’s Association, also rendered Tri-County Exhibitors’ Association on a 1932 stock certificate. That association was organised at Wishek in 1926, sponsored by the Association of Commerce, by Wishek businessmen and leading farmers seeking better livestock and grain and closer cooperation with the town. H. E. Timm was its president for many years and Robert Greiser its secretary in that history layer, and the 1932 certificate is signed by the same two men. Those officers belong to historic layers only.
The modern governing form on the fair’s own site is its Board of Directors. Its 2025 officers are Chairman Jeremy Rohr, Vice Chair Neil Meidinger, Treasurer Lisa Weigel and Secretary Gina Wiest, with an executive board of Chris Opsahl, Mark Schnabel and Chris Doane, and board members Scot Schaunaman, Chris Goldade, Paul Goldade, Ann Bettenhausen and Jeremy Goebel. Jeremy Rohr appearing both as the state award’s contact and as the board’s 2025 chairman is a name match across two layers, not proof the association forms and the board are one corporation. The 1926 Association of Commerce sponsorship, the Ashley Extension office’s horse-show registration and the speedway operation are not the fair’s organisers.
For a useful comparison, see the McHenry County North Dakota Fair Festival for another county festival.
The three-county question needs the same care. No fair-owned, state, Extension or poster layer fetched names the counties the fair joins, so no membership list published by the fair and no exhibitor-eligibility rule can be printed from the name. The regional record corroborates a Wishek-area draw across McIntosh, Logan and Emmons counties: the plot tour carries those names together, the tourism alliance names them as its south central core, Logan Extension lists the Wishek fair while keeping its own Achievement Days distinct, and McIntosh 4-H members register for the horse show through the entry system. That is a corroborated regional reading, never a roster the fair itself has published. Napoleon and Linton remain separate.
History of the Fair
The fair’s documented beginning is a tent fair. The association was organised in 1926, and the first fair was held in September 1927, with tents housing the exhibits. Fairs then ran annually and without interruption from 1927 until 1941, were discontinued from 1942 through 1946 in the war years, and returned in 1947 as an annual fall festival. In 1933, an eighty-acre fairgrounds was purchased from the State Land Department on the hill one mile west of Wishek, and three permanent fair buildings were then constructed. The modern address west of town fits that hilltop description, but no layer fetched calls it the identical 1933 parcel.
No edition number, anniversary billing or modern ordinal is published for this fair, and none is constructed here. The war-years gap alone breaks any straight count from 1927, and no layer fetched bridges 1947 to the modern July fair. McIntosh County’s 1883 organisation and Wishek’s 2023 quasquicentennial are county and town facts, not fair facts.
What to Expect
Thursday: Horses, Dogs, Magic and the Rodeo
Thursday in 2025 opened with the Tri-County State Fair Qualifying 4-H Horse Show at nine in the morning, with eight to eight-thirty check-in and helmets required for mounted riders. The midway ran from four to ten that afternoon and evening. Canine Stunt Dogs performed at three, five and seven, and Magic Joe at a quarter to four, a quarter to six and a quarter to eight. The ranch rodeo began at half past six, stock car races at half past seven, and Unleashed, a party on the midway, at eight.
Friday: Animals, Rides, Races and a Light Show
Friday in 2025 began with the 4-H Animal Show at nine in the morning. Magic Joe returned at four, a quarter to six and a quarter to eight, and Canine Stunt Dogs at five, seven and nine. Race Car Rides for Kids ran at a quarter to seven, and stock car races at half past seven, followed after the races by Ashley Wineland and later by Eli Alger and the Faster Horses. A drone light show followed after dark. The midway on Friday and Saturday ran from noon to eleven at night.
Saturday: Playday, Bingo, Bikes and Races
Saturday in 2025 opened with a Kids Horse Playday at nine in the morning. Bingo with a one-thousand-dollar payout followed at half past one, and a Mini Dirt Bike Race at two. Canine Stunt Dogs performed through the day, and stock car races ran again at half past seven.
Sunday: Livestock, Cars, Church and a Last Afternoon
Sunday in 2025 began with a livestock show at eight in the morning, followed by a Classic Car and Tractor Show at nine and a church service at ten. Magic Joe performed at a quarter to one, a quarter to three and a quarter to five, bingo with a one-thousand-dollar payout ran again at half past one, and Canine Stunt Dogs performed at one, three and five. The midway on Sunday ran from noon to six. The poster also billed craft and food vendors, discounted presale passes, a rule that no dogs are allowed on the midway, and Midway West Amusements as the midway operator.
Planning Your Visit
Getting to the Grounds
The grounds are the Tri-County Fairgrounds at 8050 38th Avenue Southeast, Wishek, and the fair’s mail address is Post Office Box 782, Wishek. The speedway on the same grounds is described in its place record as a quarter-mile dirt oval run by volunteers, with races on select Thursdays from half past seven. That Thursday-night season outside fair week is the speedway’s own record, not the fair’s programme, although stock car races are also a fair-week element in the 2025 poster. A traveller’s account of a July fair visit describes a midway, a rodeo stadium, three exhibit sheds and a large building with seating and a concession, in its own year only. No grounds map, fuller building list or grandstand capacity is published in any fair-side layer fetched.
Dates and Timing
The modern fair is a July fair at Wishek. The state farm press schedules list the Tri-County Fair at Wishek on July 8 to 11 in 2021 and July 14 to 17 in 2022. The 2025 poster’s Thursday to Sunday frame, with its opening Thursday fixed by the horse-show layer on July 10, 2025, is the fullest recent shape, but no full 2025 run is spelled out in any fetched layer. For 2026, two listings conflict and neither is preferred: one county Extension narrative lists July 9 to 12, 2026, at Wishek, while the entry-system fair list carries July 9 to 13, 2026. The spans share a July 9 start and differ on the end day, so no full 2026 run is printed. A fireworks vendor’s layer also records a 2026 display at Wishek, as vendor corroboration only, never a programme source.
Admission and Other Costs
Admission is fenced year by year, and the years must never be blended. The 2025 poster’s published admission line reads fifteen dollars for adults and five dollars for children aged six to twelve, with all concerts and stage shows billed free in the same poster. That free billing covers concerts and stage shows in 2025 only. No parking price, season pass or under-six term is published in it, so only the line itself is printed here.
The 2017 layer is different in kind. A fair-side entry form for the Combined Open Youth and North Dakota Junior Point Show on July 16, 2017, states no entry fee and no gate fee, with a late fee of thirty dollars after July 11 for entries. Those are a show-entry form’s terms in 2017, recorded as such. They are never generalised into a claim that the fair itself was free or is free, and they never blend with the 2025 poster’s priced line. For every other year, gate admission is unpublished, and the fair is never called free on the 2017 form or the poster’s free concerts. No parking price is published in any layer fetched.
Staying Over
No fair-side camping offer is documented for this fair, and no camping terms are stated here as a fair offer. The state licensed-campground inventory carries no Tri-County Fairgrounds entry; the Wishek entry it carries is the city park board’s campground, not the fair’s. Nearby camping belonging to separate institutions is not fair camping.
A Sample Day at the Fair
Take Friday in the 2025 programme. Arrive for the nine o’clock 4-H Animal Show, spend the afternoon with the midway, vendors and stage acts, and keep the early evening for the children’s race car rides at a quarter to seven. Stay for the stock car races at half past seven, then the music and the drone light show after dark.
How This Fair Compares
Unlike a one-county fair with one fair board, this fair draws a three-county area to one grounds in Wishek, keeps a speedway on the same grounds, and carries a history from tent exhibits in 1927 through a wartime break to a modern July programme.
Visitor Checklist
- Aim for Wishek, not Ashley, the county seat
- Navigate to 8050 38th Avenue Southeast; Post Office Box 782 is for mail only
- Treat the 2025 admission line as a poster line, never a standing price
- Treat the 2017 no-fee wording as a show form’s term, never a free fair
- Check the current year’s dates in its own listing, since the 2026 spans conflict
- Expect a Thursday to Sunday shape in the 2025 record only
- Leave dogs off the midway, as the 2025 poster requires
- Arrange lodging separately, since no fair camping offer is documented
Beyond the Festival Grounds
Wishek itself is part of the visit, and the fairgrounds sit a mile west of town on the hill from the history layer. The town’s German-Russian heritage runs through the wider three-county region, which the regional tourism alliance names as Emmons, Logan and McIntosh counties together. That identity is backdrop, not programme.
Why This Fair Matters
This fair matters because it has held a rural region together across a broken timeline. It began with farmers and townspeople seeking better livestock and grain, survived a wartime discontinuation, bought ground on a hill west of Wishek and built permanent buildings, and now draws youth exhibitors and speedway crowds to the same grounds in July. Its record is checkable in places, with a state award, a fair-owned site and a full 2025 poster, and honest about its gaps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the fair in Ashley or Wishek?
The fair is in Wishek, at the Tri-County Fairgrounds. Ashley is the county seat of McIntosh County, about seventeen miles southeast of Wishek, and it is not the fair town.
What does it cost to get into the fair?
The only priced admission line in the record is the 2025 poster’s line: fifteen dollars for adults and five dollars for children aged six to twelve, with concerts and stage shows billed free in that poster. No parking price, season pass or under-six term is published in it, and other years’ gate admission is unpublished.
When is the fair held?
The modern fair is a July fair at Wishek. The 2025 poster uses a Thursday to Sunday frame, with the horse show fixed on Thursday, July 10, 2025, while the 2021 and 2022 schedules give their own July ranges. For 2026, two listings share a July 9 start and conflict on the end day, so no full 2026 run is printed.
Can visitors camp at the fairgrounds?
No fair-side camping offer is documented for this fair. The city campground in Wishek belongs to the city park board, not to the fair, so lodging should be arranged separately.
What to Expect From the Next McIntosh County North Dakota Tri-County Fair Festival
How often is McIntosh County North Dakota Tri-County Fair Festival held?
The fair is an annual event, held once a year in July at Wishek in the modern record. The 2025 poster, the 2021 and 2022 schedules and the 2026 listings all sit in July, with the historic September beginning kept in its own 1927 layer.
When is the next McIntosh County North Dakota Tri-County Fair Festival?
The firmest guide is the 2025 Thursday to Sunday poster frame in July, with the 2026 listings starting July 9 but conflicting on the end day. Confirm the next edition’s dates in its own listing.
Will the dates change?
Calendar dates shift between editions within July. The documented modern ranges fall on July 8 to 11 in 2021, July 14 to 17 in 2022 and a Thursday to Sunday frame in 2025, with the 2026 listings differing on the end day.
Closing
The Tri-County Fair at Wishek is best understood as a regional fair with a tangled record. It is a July fair with a September beginning, a three-county draw whose member list no fair layer publishes, a board and an association whose name forms stand apart, and a programme richest in one poster year. A visitor who comes to the Wishek fairgrounds in July will find horses and livestock in the morning, a midway and stage acts, and stock cars and music after dark.
