Blaine County Fair

On the Tuesday of the 2026 fair, Sadie Olsen, 7, of Carey, washed her pig Jerry ahead of the swine show set for the next morning. The Idaho Mountain Express ran the photograph. The fair fills the first week of August at the Blaine County Fairgrounds on Main Street in Carey, a town the Express placed “about 40 miles and a world away from Sun Valley.” Admission is free. In 2026 the fair ran August 3 through 8 under the theme “Country Roots and Star Spangled Boots.” Its Facebook page states the aim: “a cultural showplace for Agriculture and Youth related projects,” kept “family oriented” and “at a reasonable cost to the patrons.”

Six days of showing stock

The 2026 week opened Monday morning with an English horse show at 8:30 and a western show after it. Tuesday brought weigh-ins and the poultry and rabbit shows. Swine showed Wednesday, sheep and market goats Thursday, and beef Friday, followed by a round robin.

The exhibitors are 4-H members. The Express counted 157 enrolled in 2026, working since spring with 21 adult volunteers and Chandra Vaughan of University of Idaho Extension. Brandi Hennefer, a 4-H leader, told the 5B Gazette there were 160, about the same as the year before. Beef kids typically start in November, Hennefer said, while those raising pigs and sheep start at the beginning of the year and weigh in during April and May. Every participant keeps a logbook of the animal’s feeding and training and turns it in at the Eldridge Building on the first day. The county’s schedule spells the building Eldredge. The kids also decorate the three barns, and after each show the animals return to their pens, where wooden signs mark the winners.

Hayley Acquistapace, 17, of Carey, showed her steer Lefty in 2026, her ninth year in 4-H. She said a new animal is hard to halter break, but it becomes easier to work with if the handler stays consistent. She placed second among senior beef showmen behind Stockton Sears, 18, also of Carey, who showed a steer named Buzz and was named grand champion showman. “My steer really helped me a lot,” Sears told the Gazette. “He’s been super good, so you gotta have the right partner for everything.” Acquistapace took grand champion showman at the horse show. Arlena Hansen won grand champion market goat, McKenzie Olsen grand champion market sheep, and Eiley Dahlstrom grand champion quality rabbit.

The stock goes through the sale ring Saturday morning, and a buyers luncheon follows at 1. “Last year the market sale raised over $600,000,” Vaughan told the Express in 2026. “Many of the kids put the money in savings accounts for college.” Hennefer said sale prices have risen, and so has the cost of animals and feed.

Prime rib, Dutch ovens and a donut truck

The exhibit building is open Thursday through Saturday. It holds open class entries in photography, crafts, foods and flowers, judged on Wednesday. On Thursday evening Big Jon’s BBQ serves a prime rib dinner on the grounds. In 2026 the dinner raised money for the Carey volleyball girls. At 8 that night the barn dance starts, with We Rock Mobile Music. The Dutch oven cookoff begins Friday at 2:15, and the fair’s page told the public to “Come and Judge the Food!” In 2026 a donut eating contest followed the beef show, limited to ten entrants who signed up at the Glazing and Confused Mini Donuts truck. Bounce houses are free, and water slides ran on the Friday.

There is an archery contest Wednesday afternoon and a shotgun contest Thursday at 4. The evenings belong to the Carey Rodeo Association. Its ATV rodeo on Wednesday takes dirt bikes, four-wheelers, Razors and golf carts at $5 an event. Friday night is the kids rodeo. The fall rodeo starts Saturday at 7, and in 2026 it included wild cow milking and steer saddling, both open to the public, KMVT reported. Afterward the crowd walks back to the fairgrounds for a free concert. Chuck Briseno played it in 2026, returning from the year before, and the fair asked people to bring chairs and blankets for lawn sitting.

Half a century without carnival rides

In 2023 KMVT reported that most southern Idaho fairs feature big music acts, PRCA rodeo and carnival rides, while Carey had kept to the original purpose of a county fair for over half a century. “We try to keep it grounded and it’s mainly for the kids and the community and anybody else that wants to come,” said board member Laurie Fiscus. “A lot of people just drive through, and they’ll stop and go ‘oh my gosh… look at this little county fair’ and they really enjoy it.” Organizers told the Gazette that 4-H has been in Blaine County for more than 73 years. Vaughan said many of the kids’ parents and grandparents went through the program.

The grounds have grown with the entries. In 2019, the year of “Bounty of the County,” swine entries rose 40 percent, and extension staff found at weigh-in that they lacked room. “We were in a little of disbelief,” said Sarah Busdon of the University of Idaho Extension Office. Local businesses, donors and neighbors helped expand the barn. “Additional concrete being poured, mats put down, temporary panels for the sheep and permanent homes,” Busdon said, and more washing stations went in. Farmers and ranchers also lend pens on their own land to kids who live inside town limits. In 2024, under the theme “Show, Play, Ride,” the fair held its first concert. EllieMae Millenkamp of Jerome, a 2019 contestant on “The Voice,” headlined, and Heath Owens opened. An outdoor movie followed after dark.

Each year the board names grand marshals. They were Wanda, John and Heidi Peck in 2019 and Matt Thornton and Teresa (Tree) Bosch in 2024. In 2026 the board named Matt and Lisa Hoskins for the time they have given to 4-H.

Greeters since 1914

Danny Simpson was president of the fair board in 2026. “It’s a chance for the entire county to get together,” he told the Express. “We have judges who give ribbons and cash prizes.” Becky Payne of Carey has served on the board and in 4-H. Her grandfather immigrated from Scotland in 1893 and established a sheep and cattle ranch along Fish Creek in 1910. She and her husband, Dick, ran cattle on his family’s Silver Creek ranch before turning to hay.

The Carey Progressive Club, a women’s club that has met monthly since February 1914 under the motto “Ever onward, upward, helping everywhere,” was still playing pinochle in members’ homes in 2001. Its members also served as greeters at the Blaine County Fair and watched booths while the owners took a break. Asked whether they wore a badge or sash, the women chuckled and said, “People just know we’re Progressives.”