Boundary County Fair

The Boundary County Fairgrounds sit low by the Kootenai River on the west side of Bonners Ferry. Northbound on U.S. 95, the turn is the last left before the river bridge. Southbound, it is the first right after crossing. Either way the turn lands on Riverside Road. The route keeps right along the water, crosses the railroad tracks, takes the first left, and passes several houses before the land opens into the parking lot, with the tracks now on the left. The first building on the right says OFFICE. Behind it stands the Valley Event Center. Memorial Hall faces the office across the grass, and a sidewalk between the buildings leads to the double glass doors of the Exhibit Hall. The barns and the grandstand lie to the west.

Camping is not allowed on the grounds in ordinary times, but the RV dump station is free and open all year. Across the driveway, a green shack dispenses fresh city water for quarters. The fair’s own banner reads “Community Strong for over 100 years!” and admission to the fair, its pages say, is always free.

Five days in August, 2026

The 2026 fair ran August 11 through 15. The Bonners Ferry Herald printed its theme as “There’s Magic at the Fair”; the fair’s own page wrote “There’s Magic in the Fair.” For fair week, traffic ran one way. Cars entered on 5th Street by the tennis courts and left on 4th Street, either over the railroad tracks or under the viaduct. The blacktop was held for handicapped parking, and the SPOT Bus ran a daily shuttle from the Bonners Ferry High School football stadium.

The fair opened Tuesday evening. Fair Board Vice Chairman Stacie Watts served as master of ceremonies. Wyatt Sanders was named King, Wren Tye Queen and Clara Zills Princess, with Hannah Leach as Little Princess and Emmett Solomon as Little Prince. Asja Miller sang the national anthem. The fair revived its old custom of grand marshals and named two, Cal Russell and Sharon Schnuerle. The same ceremony dedicated a new timber-frame building on the grounds, the Dave Wenk Memorial Pavilion.

Each day after that began with the fair office opening at 8 a.m. and the food booths and exhibit areas at 8:30. Livestock judging ran through the mornings in the barns: 4-H, FFA and open class beef quality on Thursday, dairy cattle on Friday, and the grand champion showman contest on Saturday. A magic show played at 10, 1 and 4:30. Free caricature drawings ran in morning, afternoon and evening sessions. Robotics demonstrations ran in the afternoons. The Wild West Fun Park opened at 11 each day.

The contests followed the clock:

• Thursday: youth tractor pull semifinals at 1, greased pig registration at 3, a huckleberry bake-off from 4 to 6, and Family Fun Night at 6:30.
• Friday: “monster cookie” entries in the morning, set out on display through the afternoon, then seed spitting at 2:30.
• Saturday: a water balloon contest at 2:30 and watermelon eating at 3:30.

Friday evening belonged to the 4-H and FFA. A buyers social at 5 was followed at 7 by the market animal sale, which the fair streamed live. At the same hour, the first of two Bulls & Broncs rodeo nights began, with mutton bustin’ for the small riders and tickets sold ahead. The parade rolled at noon on Saturday. The youth tractor pull finals ran at 4:30, and at 7 Jessie Leigh played a free family concert to close the fair.

Afterward the fair counted gel blasters, bounce houses, concerts, livestock and exhibits among the week’s offerings and called it “one of the biggest FREE fairs we’ve ever had.” It also counted its own hands. Five board members, one full-time employee and one part-time maintenance worker run the fair, with an assistant and a couple more maintenance helpers added each summer. “But the heart of this fair? Our volunteers,” the post read.

The full-time employee is Jaycee Atkins, the fairgrounds executive director. She started at the fair as a 4-H member, came back as a swine leader after becoming a parent, and rose to co-chair of the Boundary County Livestock Association. Board member Glenda Poston was appointed on January 7, 1997. Her mother always worked the fair, and Poston entered whatever she had sewn or grown that year. “Where can you go and see so many folks, eat a variety of food, watch many free demonstration and just have a relaxing time?” she said of fair week.

A pavilion built for a reunion band

The pavilion dedicated on opening night began with a booking. The Bonners Ferry High School Class of 1976 wanted something special for its 50th reunion that would also mark the nation’s 250th anniversary. The class engaged Paper Flowers – Remembering Fleetwood Mac, a tribute band that plays the Northwest. The band needed a covered stage to keep its equipment out of the weather.

“We said, ‘Let’s just build one,’” said Dennis Dinning of the class’s legacy team. The team joined with Atkins and the Fair Board. Christian Janzen oversaw construction and Don Jordon drew the plans. Pro X Home Center supplied materials and discounts, Idaho Forest Group gave lumber, Ibex Metal the roofing, and Joe Neumeyer Metal Works fabricated the brackets. By June 2026 the project had drawn an estimated $28,000 in donations, by Dinning’s figure. The building took the name of Dave Wenk, a fair board member and community leader who supported the project before he died.

The reunion ran July 16 through 19, 2026, and Paper Flowers played the new pavilion on the 18th. Wildfire smoke and evacuations cancelled several community events that weekend. “We were really grateful that we were able to go on with the concert,” Dinning said. “Paper Flowers was outstanding.”

Atkins has said she means to bring more concerts and events to the grounds. Through the summer of 2026, a Tuesday concert series played on the blacktop. The fair’s pages list a holiday craft show, Yule Love a Traditional Craft Show, for December 4 and 5. The next fair is set for August 10 through 14, 2027.

Tents by the Idaho Hotel, hammers in 1921

For the fair’s hundredth year, in 2020, the Fair Board asked the Boundary County Museum in February to help it mark the centennial with historical bulletin boards. On March 25 the governor ordered the state into lockdown for COVID-19, and the museum closed its doors. Curator Sue Kemmis wrote that the bulletin board work “took priority even as we wondered if there would be a fair or not.”

The result became a museum exhibit of panels, one for each decade. They begin with the 1920s fair held in Maughan Park, on the north side of the Kootenai River, and run through 2019. Further panels cover the county’s 4-H clubs, the high school’s FFA and Future Homemakers chapters, and past fair royalty.

Howard Kent, the museum’s historian, traced the fair’s beginnings through old newspapers:

• 1910: Bonners Ferry still lay inside Bonner County. Its second annual Fruit Fair went on display at the Bonner County Fair in Sandpoint.
• 1911: Zoe Kent was chosen princess to represent the Kootenai Valley at the Spokane Apple Show.
• 1913: Plans were made for a first county fair in large tents on the flats beside the Idaho Hotel, where the courthouse stands today.
• 1915: Boundary County was established in July. By late August, committees had set a fair for October 6, 7 and 8. On September 17 the idea was given up as too much work in too short a time.
• 1916: A Commercial Club committee set three days in October. After that the paper mentioned it no more. It was an election year, full of politics and worry over the war in Europe.
• 1917: The country entered the war, and a fair was out of the question.
• 1919: A County Club Fair was held on October 11, with prizes for boys’ and girls’ displays.
• 1920: With the war over, the first county fair took place.

In 1921 the county bought 16 acres west of town for fairgrounds. The Boundary County Fair Association announced that June 15 would be “Knockers Day,” and everyone was invited to bring a hammer to help put up the grandstands and fences. Tourist kitchens were to be built as well. The second annual fair was held that year.