Butte County Fair

The gates on East Hazel Street open at 4 p.m. on a Thursday in late August. The 2026 Butte County Fair ran August 27 through 30 under the theme “Golden Days and Country Ways.” Its first evening held two judgings at once. On the Courtyard Stage the Miss Butte County, Teen Miss and Missette contestants took their turns. In the livestock barns, where steers and pigs had been shown since Wednesday, the champions were named. “Tonight’s grand opening,” said Matt Reed, chief executive of the fairgrounds. “We crown the champions.” The judges came from Texas and Central California. They scored the animals on conformation and on how they stood from a market standpoint, including whether they were ready for the meat industry.

Out on the midway, the Midway of Fun carnival draws the largest crowds. Reed says it pulls young people in particular, who come to spend time with friends before school begins. In 2026 Gridley schools opened the Monday after the fair closed. Live music plays at Jake’s Bar and on the Courtyard Stage. The Kids Zone is a free area for children “tiny to tween,” with games, crafts and entertainment on a daily schedule. Feather Falls Brewing Company made a Peachy Keen Seltzer for the fair and sells it nowhere else. Thursday is Senior Day, with free admission for those 65 and older, plus bingo and karaoke. Friday is Kids Day, when children 12 and under get in free. In 2026 general admission was $12 for adults and parking $10. In 2023 the Catholic Knights of Columbus ran $10 parking across the street from the fairgrounds.

Farmers Hall and the barns

Farmers Hall is the largest building on the grounds. For years it housed the Sportsmen’s Expo. A 1992 poster for the expo now hangs near mounted waterfowl and game at the Gridley Museum. In 2026 the hall became the Fair Time Marketplace, a co-op-style shared market for growers who sell from roadside stands. The tables held sourdough bread, cookies, jam, bee pollen, olive oil and local produce. Happy Hens Farms, Canada Farms, Sheldon Farm Stand and Reese Ranch were among the vendors, alongside other Gridley-area producers. The market stays open each day until 9 p.m. “We’re trying to celebrate the local commodities farmers who have, like, farm stands on the side of the road,” Reed said. He described the decision this way: “You know what? Let’s shift it. Let’s make something cool out of it, and let’s bring in the community.”

The hall itself has changed. Air conditioning has replaced its old swamp coolers, partly with a second use in mind. “If we ever have a situation where evacuations occur, we have to make sure that the people, when they come here, we’re ready for them,” Reed said. The livestock facilities have also been improved.

The competitive exhibits fill out the program. Divisions cover clothing, textiles and quilts, crafts, digital and fine arts, preserved foods, photography, family projects, floriculture, and farm and garden. The Junior Livestock Auction belongs mostly to 4-H and FFA members, and nearly all of its proceeds go to the young people who raised the animals. In 2025 it brought in about $794,000 for 265 animals. That was up about 11.2 percent, or $80,000, from the year before. “We were up, which was great, but that money goes back to the kids,” Reed said.

Ropes, motorcycles and motorhomes

The arena takes over on the last three nights. Friday at 6 p.m. brings the Jeff Mardesich Memorial Roping, which the fair counts among its longest-standing traditions. It is free with fair admission, the only arena event without a separate ticket. In team roping two riders work against the clock. The header ropes the steer by the horns, and the heeler then tries to rope its hind legs. Children compete in a free dummy roping for buckles in two age groups, 6 and under and 7 to 9. The 2026 roping put a new cattle return into use. Volunteers and area businesses built it. The fair and the Mardesich family credited Triston Benedict, Patrick Benedict of RTB Engineering, Sean Earley, Blake Earley and Brayden Baker with the work.

On Saturday motorcycles replace the horses for Flat Track MotoX racing on the fairgrounds’ dirt oval. Heat races run through the afternoon and evening, and the main event starts at 7 p.m. Youth riders race for trophies and prizes. Reed has named it as one of the events he is most excited about.

Sunday closes with the Destruction Derby. Drivers try to keep their machines running through repeated collisions in four classes: 1980s stock cars, MWFA, motorhomes and Power Wheels. In the Power Wheel Derby, children ages 4 to 6 and 7 to 9 drive helmeted in battery-powered cars that must stay stock. They may be decorated to look like derby cars, but four-wheeler-style vehicles are not allowed.

The Golden Feather Girl

The pageant that opens the fair began around 1960 with a title called the Golden Feather Girl. About 1966 it became Miss Butte County. In the 1990s the bathing suit competition was dropped. The program says that to this day no phase of the competition is scored on beauty. In 2004 the fair board renamed it the Miss Butte County Scholarship Competition, matching the California state program. In 2024 a Butte County Ambassador division opened for young men.

Contestants in each division are judged on a resume, an interview, an on-stage speech, a presentation of a skill, and an impromptu question asked on stage. The contestants themselves vote on the Golden Feather Award, given in each age category for encouragement, humor and care. After the crowning, the Royal Court appears at about 40 events a year. The court at the time of the 2026 listing was Miss Butte County Rajneet, Ambassador Sawyer, Miss Teen Butte County Brianna and Missette Paizlee.

At the 2023 fair, nine contestants competed in sparkling gowns. Makayla Mellinger was crowned Miss Butte County, Maizy Miller Miss Teen Butte County and Josilynn Payan Missette. During that show the director, Alyssa Tomlinson, announced she was stepping down. “The growth that they show over one year is amazing!” she said. Her successor was Raina Wright-Reynolds, who had entered the program as a contestant in 2006 and was named Miss Congeniality in 2010 and 2013.

From a wartime base to a staff of three

The fairgrounds cover 26 acres that served as a military base during World War II. The Gridley Museum’s newsletter has reprinted a piece from the Oroville Mercury of September 13, 1946, describing the fair’s opening: “Thousands of spectators lined the sidewalks last night to watch the opening parade of horses, floats and features at the Butte County Fair, which began Thursday morning.” That opening-day parade in Gridley has since left the schedule.

The fair’s own site and the Gridley News give its age as 79 years in 2026. Action News Now put it at more than 80. In August 2026 the museum mounted a temporary display of fair memorabilia. It included the commemorative posters drawn each year to that year’s theme, among them the Western-styled “County Traditions” of 2006. Newspaper clippings in the display covered the year Gridley was chosen to host the fair and the year the fair was nearly canceled.

In January 2011 Gov. Jerry Brown proposed ending $32 million in annual state payments to California’s county fairs. The Butte County Fair stood to lose between $180,000 and $205,000 from a budget of about $800,000. Manager Sean Earley cut that summer’s fair from five days to four, August 25 to 28, to save money for entertainers of the same class. “You’ve got to get a lot more efficient, but you still have aging infrastructure you have to maintain, and you still need managers to sell the (booth) places, take the checks,” he said. The fair has since run four days.

Reed taught high school agriculture across the street before he became chief executive in 2022. His first fair as director opened on Thursday, August 24, 2023, when chamber members and fair officials cut a red ribbon outside the main gates as ticket lines formed. District 4 Supervisor Tod Kimmelshue spoke at the ribbon cutting. “This is kind of a shining star for Butte County,” he said. “We own the property and we’ve been able to help Matt and the board get some money to tear down some buildings.” That year Gridley VFW Post 5731 parked the state’s first new VFW travel trailer behind its station to sell poppies and recruit members.

The fair usually draws 15,000 to 17,000 people, according to the Gridley News in 2025, or 15,000 to 18,000 by Reed’s 2026 count. In 2025 it drew about 11,000. The Gridley News reported heat of 103 degrees daily that year, and Reed later recalled temperatures that reached 106.

The county provides the land but no operating budget, and the fair runs as a nonprofit under an eight-member board appointed by county supervisors. “What keeps us afloat all year is the fact that we basically run on a staff of three,” Reed said. For the rest of the year the grounds host dog shows, fly ball, concerts, weddings and quinceañeras. During past disasters they have served as an emergency shelter, and nearly $500,000 in FEMA funding from the Camp Fire has been spent. Volunteers once worked the gates. On the annual volunteer day, 250 to 300 people still come from LDS groups, 4-H clubs and FFA chapters to paint and repair.

Plans in 2025 included a tractor pull, a rodeo outside fair season and a drive-in movie night. “This is part of American history that young people should be able to experience at least once,” Reed said. The RV park on the grounds closes every August for the fair. The 2027 fair is set for August 12 through 15.