Morris County New Jersey 4-H Fair Festival

Two corrections belong at the front of any account of this fair. It is not held in Morristown, even though Morristown is the Morris County seat, and it is no longer held at Chubb Park in Chester Township, however many older listings still say so. The Morris County 4-H Fair now makes its home at High View Farms, a working farm at 416 Sand Shore Road in Mount Olive, where it fills three late-July days with animal showmanship, judged exhibits, quiz bowls and rides of a distinctly agricultural kind.

What visitors find there is a county’s 4-H year spread across a farm. Young exhibitors bring the animals they have raised and the projects they have built, grown, sewn, baked, photographed and written, and judges test both the entries and the knowledge behind them. Admission costs nothing, parking runs on a suggested donation, and there is no commercial midway: the riding is done in monster trucks, on hay wagons and behind tractors on farm tours. This is a fair measured in ribbons and showmanship, not in gate receipts.

About the Morris County 4-H Fair

The fair is published and run through the Morris County, NJ 4-H Association, whose own pages carry its dates, schedules, entry information and results. Behind the Association stands the programme authority, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Morris County, of which the 4-H Youth Development Program is a part; one 2026 account phrases the arrangement as the fair being hosted by Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Morris County through the Morris County 4-H Association. Those are two descriptions of a single fair, and neither name marks a separate event with its own grounds.

Exhibiting here is a local privilege. Fair entries are open to Morris County youth in grades K–13: a young person qualifies by living in the county, having completed kindergarten, and being no more than one year past high school. Morristown enters this fair’s story only as the county seat and as the town where the Extension office sits; the office is machinery, never the venue. The fair itself belongs to Mount Olive, on a farm whose fields, barns and gravel lanes set the terms for its three days.

Quick Facts

Item	Detail
Fair	Morris County 4-H Fair
Fair town	Mount Olive
Venue	High View Farms, 416 Sand Shore Road
County seat	Morristown (does not host the fair)
Run by	Morris County, NJ 4-H Association, within Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Morris County
Season	Late July, Friday to Sunday, three days
Fair hours	Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission	Free
Parking	On site at the farm; a suggested donation of five dollars per vehicle
Who exhibits	Morris County youth, grades K–13

A Fair That Changed Its Address

No founding year, edition number or anniversary billing appears in the fair’s current record, and this account invents none. The documented spine of its history is instead a sequence of addresses. Through 2022 the fair was held at Chubb Park in Chester Township, where its 2022 edition ran four days; that park is its former home, and everything belonging to the Chubb Park years, from its hours to its programme shape, belongs to that era alone.

For a useful comparison, see the Monmouth County New Jersey Fair Festival for another county festival.

From 2023 onward, every fair-side record places the fair at High View Farms in Mount Olive, and the 2024 and 2025 editions were both held at the farm. No reason for the move is published and no farewell edition is documented, so the honest history is simply that the fair was at Chubb Park through 2022 and has been documented at the farm since 2023. Any listing, including a township park page that still shows the fair among Chubb Park’s July events, is out of date where the venue is concerned.

One older layer reaches further back. A magazine account of the region’s 4-H fairs, dating from roughly two decades ago, says the Morris fair began as a few tables in the middle of Rockaway Town Square Mall and grew from there under borrowed tents. That is carried here strictly as that dated account’s claim, not as a founding date. The same account’s note that local puppy raisers have worked with the Seeing Eye since 1942 is the history of a club and a programme, not billing for the fair, and it is kept in that fence here.

What to Expect

Showmanship in the Rings

The weekend’s backbone is young people presenting animals they have raised and trained. The programme runs poultry showing and showmanship, rabbit and cavy classes, small animal showing, sheep showmanship, and dog competition across junior showmanship, agility, rally and obedience. Two specialisms give the Morris fair a flavour of its own: herpetology showmanship, for members whose projects slither and bask, and bee showmanship, alongside fishing showmanship for the county’s anglers. The testing continues in quiz bowls covering small animals, dogs, science, horses, poultry and herpetology, where the questions reward a year of study as much as a well-groomed animal.

Exhibits, Posters and Club Displays

Away from the rings, the fair displays the indoor half of the 4-H year. Open divisions cover art and fine art, photography, science, crafts, creative writing, clothing and textiles, needlework, food and nutrition, and horticulture, together with pet and project posters and the displays and banners clubs build to present their collective work. Friday’s late afternoon brings the Parade of Clubs and Opening Ceremony, when the clubs process together before the evening programme, and the weekend closes with a Sunday Awards Ceremony.

Rides Without a Midway

There is no commercial midway at this fair, and nothing in its record supports inventing one. The riding that is documented runs all three days and suits the setting: monster truck rides, hay rides, and farm tour tractor rides that turn the venue itself into the attraction. Around them sit chicks hatching in view of visitors, face painting, fairy hair, search and rescue dog demonstrations, and free hands-on activities pitched at children meeting farm life for the first time.

Stages, Food Trucks and a Sunday Car Show

Entertainment is booked at a community scale. The documented bills include the Raptor Trust, Hawks and Hounds Falconry, Rizzo’s Wildlife World, Bill the Juggler, a Morris County Sheriff’s K9 demonstration, and young musicians from School of Rock and Bach to Rock. The Seeing Eye demonstrates its work with the Paws-4-A-Cause Puppy Raising Club, watermelon-eating contests and cupcake decorating keep competition edible, and the Radical Racers club runs RC racing beside a model rocket launch and archery. Food trucks feed the grounds, crafters and vendors trade alongside booths from the Rutgers Master Gardeners of Morris County and the Morris and Somerset County Beekeepers Association, a basket raffle and 50/50 drawings close each day, and Sunday adds a Dog Pound Cruisers car show benefiting animal rescue.

Planning Your Visit

Getting to High View Farms

The address is High View Farms, 416 Sand Shore Road, Mount Olive, and the word farm should be taken literally when planning footwear: the ground underfoot is a working farm’s grass and gravel, comfortable in dry weather and honest about mud after rain. Parking is on site. Drive toward Mount Olive rather than toward the county seat, and disregard any older direction routing you to Chester Township, which belongs to the fair’s previous life.

What a Day Costs

Admission is free for all three days, and no ticket ladder exists in any layer of the fair’s record, so any source quoting a gate price should be distrusted. Parking carries a suggested donation of five dollars per vehicle, which helps support the event and, in the fuller phrasing of the 2026 coverage, supports Morris County 4-H youth programs. A suggested donation is exactly that: not a parking fee, not a condition of entry, not a charge printed on a ticket. Bring spending money instead for food trucks, crafter stalls, the basket raffle and the daily 50/50 drawings.

A Sample Saturday at the Fair

Arrive near the ten o’clock opening, while the morning is cool and the animals are at their most presentable, and start with the show rings, where sheep showmanship and the rabbit and cavy classes reward close watching. Give the late morning to the exhibit displays, reading the project posters before the crowds thicken, then take a farm tour tractor ride to see the venue whole. Lunch from the food trucks, find the beekeepers’ booth for the local honey conversation, and watch the falconry or wildlife presentation in the early afternoon. Children can rotate through face painting, the hatching chicks and a try at archery before a late-afternoon hay ride, and the day can end with the raffle and 50/50 drawings before the eight o’clock close.

Ground Rules Worth Knowing First

The fair’s dog rule is strict and published by the Association itself: only 4-H project dogs and official service dogs, including Seeing Eye puppies in training, are allowed on the fairgrounds. A family pet, however well behaved, is not an exception. No camping is offered as part of this fair in any published layer, so overnight visitors should book ordinary lodging around Mount Olive and Morristown.

Then and Now: Four Days at a Park, Three on a Farm

The fair’s move invites comparison with its own past. The Chubb Park editions belonged to a township park, ran to four days in their last documented year, and carried longer park-style days; the High View Farms editions are three days, Friday to Sunday, shaped by a working farm’s rhythms, ending at eight in the evening on Friday and Saturday and at four on Sunday. What crossed the county unchanged is the model rather than the ground: a free gate, parking carried by a suggested five-dollar donation per vehicle, 4-H exhibitors at the centre, and no midway in either era. Morris County also hosts a separate Tri-County Fair at Rockaway in June; it is a different event, on a different weekend, and the two should never be merged.

Checklist

• Confirm the venue before setting out: High View Farms in Mount Olive, not Chubb Park in Chester.
• Leave pet dogs at home; only project dogs and service dogs are admitted.
• Carry small bills for the suggested five-dollar parking donation per vehicle.
• Wear shoes suited to grass and gravel, and expect farm ground after wet weather.
• Arrive early on Saturday for the show rings, before the exhibit halls draw their crowds.
• Catch Friday’s Parade of Clubs and Opening Ceremony if you attend on the first day.
• Save Sunday time for the Dog Pound Cruisers car show and the Awards Ceremony.
• Bring cash for food trucks, the basket raffle and the 50/50 drawings.

Beyond the Fairgrounds

Mount Olive and its neighbours give a fair weekend a wider frame. The county’s tourism layers point to Fosterfields Living Historical Farm in Morristown and to Waterloo Village as established historic attractions; both are separate places with their own programmes, neither is part of this fair, but either pairs naturally with a fair morning. Morristown, the county seat, is the natural stop for a sit-down meal and a walk around a historic town centre, and the trip there is a day-trip choice, not the fair’s location: the seat holds the courthouse and the Extension office, while the fair stays on the farm in Mount Olive.

Why a Farm-Based 4-H Fair Matters

A 4-H fair is the public examination of a year of private work, and Morris County’s version makes that examination unusually accessible. Because the gate is free and the parking runs on goodwill, nothing stands between a curious family and a teenager explaining, in showmanship, what a year of feeding, training and record-keeping produces. Holding that examination on a working farm keeps the context honest: the animals are judged a short walk from working fields, the horticulture is displayed in the landscape that grew it, and the clubs that parade on Friday present themselves to neighbours rather than to a passing crowd. For a suburban county, that is civic education disguised as a summer weekend.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Morris County 4-H Fair held now?

It is held at High View Farms, 416 Sand Shore Road, in Mount Olive, where the fair has been documented since 2023. Its former home was Chubb Park in Chester Township, which hosted it through 2022, and Morristown is the county seat rather than the fair town, so older listings pointing to either should be set aside.

Is there a charge to get in, or to park?

No. Admission is free on all three days, and there is no ticket ladder of any kind. Parking at the farm carries a suggested donation of five dollars per vehicle in support of the event and of Morris County 4-H youth programs; it is a donation, not a fee, and it is never a condition of entry.

Can I bring my dog to the fair?

Only in two narrow cases. The Association’s published rule admits 4-H project dogs and official service dogs, including Seeing Eye puppies in training, and no others. Pet dogs are not allowed on the fairgrounds, so visitors should make other arrangements for them.

Is there a midway or a carnival?

There is no commercial midway or carnival in this fair’s record, and none should be expected. The documented rides are monster truck rides, hay rides and farm tour tractor rides, running across the three days, alongside attractions such as the model rocket launch, archery, face painting and the Sunday car show.

What to Expect From the Next Morris County New Jersey 4-H Fair Festival

How often is the Morris County New Jersey 4-H Fair Festival held?

It is held once a year, across three days in late July, running from Friday through Sunday. That shape has held steady through the fair’s documented seasons at High View Farms.

When is the next Morris County New Jersey 4-H Fair Festival?

The Association has already posted the next dates: July 23 to 25, 2027, at High View Farms in Mount Olive, with the hours still to be confirmed. Treat those dates as the fair’s own forward billing, and check the Association’s pages again in the spring for the confirmed schedule.

Will the dates change?

The exact weekend can shift a little from one edition to the next. Late July is the fair’s settled home, but the Friday on which the weekend opens has moved by a day or so between editions, and fair hours have been posted as provisional a year ahead. The venue, by contrast, has been stable since the move to High View Farms was documented in 2023, so the weekend is best planned as late July on the farm, with dates confirmed each spring.

That steadiness is part of this fair’s character. It changed its address without changing its terms: still free at the gate, still carried by its exhibitors and its Association, still asking drivers only for a donation toward the young people whose work fills the rings. Find it in Mount Olive in late July, and it will show you a county’s 4-H year set out on a farm.