Adams County Fair

The Adams County Fairgrounds lie at 2048 Highway 95 in Council, on land just north of town. For one week each July they hold the Adams County Fair. University of Idaho Extension in Adams County manages the fair, and a board of volunteers runs it. The fair holds contests for 4-H and FFA members, open class exhibits, vendors, food booths, a carnival and a rodeo. Entering open class costs nothing, and the prizes are ribbons and cash. Sponsors pay for the ribbons, buckles and jackets the young exhibitors take home.

Six days in July, 2026

The 2026 fair ran July 20th through 25th under the motto “Friends, Family, and Freedom.” Two days before it opened, the 4-H and FFA exhibitors and several volunteers cleaned up the grounds. The first day brought a horse show. The fairboard posted a short invitation: catch a show, ride the carnival, look through the exhibit hall, and eat “a famous FFA food booth burger or 4-H snack shack snow cone.”

The snack shack ran the length of the fair, though not without trouble. On the morning of July 21 its espresso machine died. The board asked the town for one to buy or borrow, and Robyn Warner took the calls.

That night the board posted “Goodnight, steers… Goodnight, pigs… Goodnight, sheep… Goodnight, goats.” The small animal show took pocket pets, snakes and lizards among them. Open class entries closed on the third day. On the fourth, the fair held its first alumni show at 2 p.m. The Record Reporter of Council ran photographs of the week: Madilyn Harrington in the Costume Contest, the open class exhibits, the Judge’s Choice award for photography, and an “Uncle Sam” beside a well-decorated stall.

The last day, July 25, belonged to the junior livestock sale. It began at 11 a.m., and the board printed the sale order that morning. Fairgoers were asked to buy an animal “or consider giving an add-on for these hard working kids.” After the fair, the board offered a $25 gift card for the best photograph of the week, to be featured on its pages.

The exhibit hall and the skating rink

The rest of the year, the exhibit hall serves as a roller rink and a hall for parties. It is rented through the Extension office. A rental comes with roller skates, about 25 heavy rectangular tables, about 75 folding chairs, and the restrooms next door. Any reservation is cancelled if the building and grounds are needed for a wildfire camp.

Chutes and stands north of town

Dale Fisk compiled notes from the Council-area newspapers for the town museum, and the fair’s beginnings appear in them. In 1940 the Adams County Leader reported that Council Valley’s first rodeo had been held the weekend before. In 1947 the first fair and rodeo board was elected. Ray Phipps was president, Clarence Schroff vice president, T.G. Jones secretary and Lyman Mathison treasurer.

The notes give 1948 as the year the Adams County Fair & Rodeo Board was organized as a non-profit group. That year the county commissioners authorized $250 of taxpayers’ money to support it. The board was also buying land just north of town, where it planned to put up chutes, stands and other equipment. The second annual Adams County Fair and Rodeo was held in 1949.

In the fall of 1953, members of the Adams County Fair & Rodeo Association built a new livestock shed to hold 4-H animals at fair time. On February 26, 1954, a fire of unknown origin destroyed it completely.