Perry County Ohio Fair Festival
Each July the grounds west of New Lexington fill with livestock trailers, Arena motorsport, tractor pulls and square dancing until midnight, run by a resident society rather than the county itself. The Perry County Ohio Fair Festival is the Perry County Fair, staged at the Perry County Fairgrounds on State Route 37 west of town. New Lexington both holds the courthouse and hosts this fair, and its 2025 premium book documents it with unusual completeness while leaving its founding year contested.
About the Fair at New Lexington
The organiser is the Perry County Agricultural Society, formed under Chapter 1711 of the Ohio Revised Code and named exactly that way in the constitution inside the 2025 and 2026 fair books. Working forms stand in their own layers, including Perry Co. Ag Society in a sponsorship line, Senior Fair Board and Junior Fair Board in the rules, and Fair Board as a meeting heading. Neither the county Extension office nor the Ohio Department of Agriculture organises this event, the audits stating that Perry County is not financially accountable for the Society.
Eighteen directors govern the Society, a figure the constitution and audits share, serving three-year terms with one-third turning over yearly after two years of prior membership, membership being open to county residents paying board-set dues. Officers belong only to their book year, the 2025 book naming Ron Baker as President, Ken Halsey as Vice President, Robyn Cannon as Secretary and Richie Boring as Livestock Chairman, the 2026 book naming Clayton Busse, Kenny Halsey and Ashley Sypher in those roles.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Event | Perry County Fair, presented here as Perry County Ohio Fair Festival |
| Host town and county seat | New Lexington, Perry County, Ohio |
| Grounds address | Perry County Fairgrounds, 5445 State Route 37 W., New Lexington, Ohio 43764 |
| Organiser | Perry County Agricultural Society, formed under Chapter 1711 |
| Board | Eighteen directors serving staggered three-year terms |
| Season | July, six days, Monday through Saturday |
| Documented 2025 span | Monday July 14 to Saturday July 19, 2025 |
| Documented 2026 span | Monday July 20 to Saturday July 25, 2026, state schedule only |
| Sale venue by year | Coliseum in the 2024 book, Multipurpose Building in the 2025 book |
| Camping | Permit system requiring two membership or season tickets, price unverified |
A Founding Record That Refuses to Settle
No single founding year can honestly be printed here, a fiscal 2017 audit giving 1953 for this Society while fiscal 2008 and 2009 reporting gives 1954, with no fair book confirming either side, neither figure to be preferred or averaged, and constitution purpose language describing aims rather than a date. The books bill 2024 as the 71ST PERRY COUNTY FAIR and 2025 as the 72ND PERRY COUNTY FAIR, stepping consistently and nothing further, so no founding may be counted backwards, no 2026 edition projected and no continuous run inferred. No layer documents any Perry County, Ohio fair before the auditors 1950s founding, county layers from an 1817 establishment and an early Somerset seat being county history rather than fair age. A 2026 book advertisement claims over fifty-five thousand pounds of sausage donated to food pantries since 2021 for a Fill-the-Freezer appeal, an appeal claim rather than an audited total, and no counted attendance was fetched.
What to Expect During Fair Week
Arena Nights of Pulls, Derby, Motocross and Autocross
No harness racing is documented for the modern fair in any layer behind this article, the state schedule carrying no racing asterisk, the 2026 racing lists containing no Perry entry and the books programming the Arena for pulls, derby, motocross and autocross instead. Monday in 2025 brought Mad-Dawg Motorsports Demolition Derby and Figure 8 Truck Racing, described in that promoter layer with four car classes and two figure-eight truck classes. Tuesday staged Fast Traxx Motocross, Wednesday held the Rough Truck, Car and UTV Contest, Thursday turned to tractor pulls, and Friday closed with Hot Roddin Auto Cross.
For a useful comparison, see the Paulding County Ohio Fair Festival for another county festival.
Pavilion Evenings and the Nightly Square Dance
The Pavilion supplies the weeks rhythm through the Pleasant Valley Boys square dance from nine until midnight in the 2025 book, a nightly fixture sponsored there by the Society under its short form. Monday placed the Junior Fair Queen and King Coronation there after the Directors Luncheon, the Crooksville Marching Band and 4-H Recognition Awards, Friday brought Sam Rupe in that layer, and Saturday closed with Bourbon Legends, billed as free with fair admission.
Junior Fair Departments and the Saturday Sale
Beef, dairy and dairy feeders, market swine, sheep, poultry, rabbits, goats and horse and pony shows run as junior departments in the 2025 book, senior departments covering antiques, agronomy, horticulture, school projects, Family and Consumer Sciences work, Scout exhibits and junior fine art. The week builds towards the Junior Fair Livestock Sale at ten on Saturday, placed at the Coliseum in the 2024 book and in the Multipurpose Building in the 2025 book, names standing by year. Tuesday in 2025 added antique judging, a Cloverbud dance session, a Pedal Pull and a library illusion programme, Wednesday offered Cloverbud Show and Tell with barn tours, and Friday mixed a pedal pull with a new Mom calling contest at the Horse Arena and the Kiddie and Senior Calf Scramble, its rules putting Kiddie competitors at ages eight through thirteen in three groups. All week, Mike Bishop presented a Hypnosis Comedy Show at four, six and eight on the Antique Building Lawn.
Planning Your Visit
Dates and the Sunday That Is Not a Fair Day
Each span belongs only to its layer, the fair running six days in July, Monday through Saturday, with July 14 to July 19, 2025 agreed by book and state schedule, July 15 to July 20 given by the 2024 book, and July 20 to July 25, 2026 appearing only in the state schedule. No fair-side programme or admission page for 2026 was fetched, so no 2025 act or price may be carried forward. A Sunday window on July 20, 2025 from ten until two served solely for removal of still projects and commercial displays, never as a seventh fair day.
Admission in 2025, With Two Wordings Left Apart
Every figure here governs 2025 only, no fair-side ladder for 2026 having been fetched. The 2025 book requires every entrant to hold a valid pass or pay gate admission, general admission being fifteen dollars at thirty-six inches and taller, shorter children free under a height rule rather than an age rule. Its Membership Ticket cost thirty dollars, admitted the named person daily, sold only to county residents, carried voting privileges from age eighteen and was required for board candidacy, while its Season Ticket cost twenty-five dollars for non-residents and residents not wishing to be members. A separate Ride Pass cost eight dollars, purchasable daily by pass holders and exhibitors with armbands to ride all rides. The admissions page instead words general admission as fifteen dollars which includes rides, a second layer standing alongside the book. Youth exhibitors received a free armband compliments of the Perry County Farm Bureau, voucher on file by June 20, pickup at the pavilion on July 12 and July 13, replacements at the Fair Office for one dollar.
Vehicle Money, Parking and Conditional Days in 2025
The book Vehicle Pass cost twenty-five dollars in 2025 for the main gate, good from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon only, no vehicles through that gate after four except emergency and official vehicles, livestock exhibitors using the livestock or compound arena gate, the pass fixed to the windshield. The site separates Main Gate and Livestock Vehicle Passes at twenty-five dollars each, the latter for livestock exhibitors only with parking behind the Coliseum or at the horse barn, both layers standing as printed, and parking was free on a space available basis in the book words for 2025 only. Veterans Day on Monday admitted veterans free with military identification all day in 2025, sponsored by the Perry County Veteran Service in the schedule layer, while Senior Citizens Day on Thursday stays unreconciled, the book wording entry at sixty and older as free all day against the site wording of free from eight until six. Kids Day on Tuesday carries no single price, the 2025 book printing both seven and eight dollars across its pages, so its reliable facts are the Tuesday eight-to-six window, the under-eighteen scope, the includes-rides term and the free sack lunch at noon sponsored by the Sheriff. Fast Traxx rider fees, twenty-five dollars per youth or amateur class and thirty professional, are competitor money and never admission.
Camping by Permit, Without a Published Price
Camping runs as a permit system tied to ticket purchase in agreeing book and site terms, campers applying at the Secretary Office, displaying the permit on the camper, collecting a reserved-camping card, fitting an automobile pass to each vehicle, and buying two membership or season tickets alongside any camping pass. The 2026 book corroborates the operation only through its Camping committee, Ryan Solomon and Robyn Cannon as co-chairs with Jason Holman serving. No camping price may be printed, the books publishing none and the site column not unambiguously attaching its vehicle figures to the Camping Pass heading.
Buildings, Cash Points and Grounds Rules
Named fabric includes the Arena, Pavilion, Antique Building and its lawn, cash machines at the Main Gate and Covered Bridge in the 2025 book, the Horse Arena and horse barn, the Homemaking Building and Jr. Fair Headquarters. Antique judging appears in one layer under the Perry County Archives Building name, standing alongside the Antique Building references. Site regulations bar pets during fair week except verified service dogs and concessionaire campsite-kept pets, require pass vehicles not to block exits and bar delivery trucks from the midway in the afternoon.
A Sample Day Built From the 2025 Programme
A Thursday visitor following the 2025 shape could open with the Farm and Small Garden Tractor Tug Pull, rest over the senior luncheon, then catch the Farm Bureau ice-cream-eating contest before the Garden Tractor Transfer Pull. A Saturday visitor needed the earliest start, reaching the Multipurpose Building for the ten o clock livestock sale before the afternoon transfer pull and Bourbon Legends that evening.
How the Book Years Compare With Each Other
Comparing Perry across its own books is safer than comparing it with neighbouring fairs, the sale venue marking the clearest change, Coliseum in 2024 against Multipurpose Building in 2025, the 2024 layer adding Barnyard Olympics in its own year. The 2026 layer documents machinery instead, naming committees for Arena Events, Auto-Cross, Demolition Derby, both pull forms, Gate Admissions, Camping, FCCLA work and species committees, while Extension horse rules run horse shows Monday through Thursday in that layer without creating any 2026 entertainment schedule.
Checklist for a Perry Visit
- Confirm the July span for your year before fixing travel around any single date.
- Treat every 2025 price here as year-bound history and seek a current ladder before budgeting.
- Measure younger children against the thirty-six inch threshold rather than assuming an age cutoff.
- Choose membership or season tickets by residency, voting interest and board ambitions.
- Keep the book ride-pass structure and the site includes-rides wording separate on costs.
- Arrive before four when relying on a main-gate vehicle pass under 2025 terms.
- Plan Kids Day around its window, scope and sponsored lunch, not any single price.
- Carry military identification for any veterans offer and confirm current terms on arrival.
- Secure camping permission plus the required ticket pair before expecting a pitch.
- Leave pets at home unless the service-dog or campsite exceptions clearly apply.
Beyond the Fairgrounds
New Lexington rewards a short wander, starting with the Perry County Courthouse at 105 North Main Street, designed by Joseph W. Yost and built in 1888 in the courthouse record, which also notes the county honours Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry in its name. Somerset appears there as the original seat, hosting no part of the modern fair, and directors home communities in the books, including Glenford, Junction City, Thornville, Roseville, Mt. Perry and Crooksville, sketch the wider county.
Why This Small July Fair Matters Locally
Its significance lies in how visibly a resident membership society still runs a full county week, a membership ticket carrying a vote, board eligibility rules and a residency boundary few visitors expect. The programme mirrors that ownership, pairing junior livestock and homemaking departments with promoter Arena nights, library and Farm Bureau contributions, a Sheriff-sponsored lunch and Society-sponsored dances, while its silences show a record that is layered rather than brochure-smooth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does admission cost at the Perry County Fair?
Only the 2025 ladder is documented here, general admission at fifteen dollars at thirty-six inches and taller, shorter children free, with passes priced separately above. No fair-side ladder for 2026 was fetched, so every figure is year-bound history until a current source publishes new terms.
Is there harness racing at this fair?
No harness racing is documented for the modern fair in any layer behind this article, including the state schedule, racing lists, audit notes and fair books. Its Arena identity rests on derby, motocross, rough-truck competition, autocross and pulls.
How does camping work during fair week at Perry?
Camping works through a Secretary Office permit displayed on the camper, a reserved-camping card, an automobile pass for each vehicle and two membership or season tickets bought alongside any camping pass. No price or hookup terms were published in the layers fetched, so campers should confirm both with the office.
Why do sources disagree about when this Society was founded?
The disagreement sits inside the audit record, one cycle giving 1953 and an earlier cycle giving 1954, while the fair books print no founding year to settle it. Billings cannot settle it either, counting backwards from the 71st or 72nd being exactly the arithmetic this record forbids as proof.
What to Expect From the Next Perry County Ohio Fair Festival
How often is Perry County Ohio Fair Festival held?
The fair is documented as an annual event, running once each year as a six-day July fair, Monday through Saturday, at New Lexington. That rhythm holds across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 layers, though each span belongs only to its own layer.
When is the next Perry County Ohio Fair Festival?
After the 2025 fair, the next span on this record is the state schedule listing for 2026, placing the fair at New Lexington from Monday July 20 to Saturday July 25. No fair-side programme or admission page for that span was fetched, so visitors should seek the Society current book before treating any 2025 detail as a 2026 promise.
Will the dates change?
July timing and a Monday-to-Saturday shape hold across recent layers, yet the exact span moves each year and must be confirmed against the current state schedule and Society publications. Anchor plans to the month first, then lock days once the year book is in hand.
The Perry County Fair rewards anyone who respects its layers, enjoying the dances, pulls and Saturday sale its books document while leaving its contested founding exactly as unsettled as the record leaves it.
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