Butte-Silver Bow County Fair

Three days on Harrison Avenue

The 2026 Butte-Silver Bow County Fair ran Thursday, July 30, through Saturday, August 1, in and around the Butte Civic Center, under the theme “Digging Into Tradition.” There were livestock shows every day: swine, beef, sheep, turkeys, rabbits, cats and dogs, each shown by a member of Silver Bow County 4-H. Inside the Civic Center, the 4-H indoor projects stood near the open-class entries, which are open to anyone in the county who paints, bakes, sews, gardens, writes or takes photographs. Children up to 12 could finish a coloring-contest page at the fair, with crayons provided. The Butte-Silver Bow Archives set up a display. Admission was free. The fair asked visitors to bring a nonperishable food item for the Butte Emergency Food Bank or school supplies for local students.

The horses went first. A Performance Horse Show and a Working Ranch Horse Show were held July 25 at the Butte Vigilante Saddle Club, the week before the fair opened.

Friday brought livestock showmanship and the opening of the Kids Zone, which ran from noon to 5 p.m. that day and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, with a foam machine and basketball. At 8 p.m. Levi Renz and his 406FMX crew rode freestyle motocross. The fair advertised backflips. The Friends of the Family Band played Friday.

Saturday was the crowded day. A Makers Market of handmade goods, jewelry and pottery ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids Day ran from noon to 2 p.m., with tables from the public library, the Race Track Volunteer Fire Department, 15-90 Search and Rescue, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and Smokey Bear with USDA Forestry. A community talent show started at 2 p.m. and was open to singers, dancers, jugglers, magicians and poets of any age. From 3 to 6 p.m., anyone with a restored classic, a muscle car or a truck could pull into the car show without registering. At 4 p.m. came the watermelon eating contest: no hands, and in the fair’s words “a race to the rind,” with a commemorative ribbon for each entrant. Line dancing began at 5 p.m. The motocross team rode again at 4:30 and 8 p.m. According to NBC Montana, the fair ended at 8:30 p.m. with the Night Life Band.

Bill Boyle, a Butte-Silver Bow commissioner on the fair board, told NBC Montana: “The kids put a lot of time and effort into their 4-H animals. It’s a lot of work, and it’s nice when people come out and see it, give them a little recognition.”

The cake table and the sale ring

That recognition is paid in cash on Friday evening. In 2026 the buyers’ dinner was served at 5 p.m., and the auction opened at 6:30 with the cake auction. Its homemade cakes and baked goods were donated for the purpose. Bakers were asked to attach an ingredient list and were warned that nothing would be refrigerated. The proceeds went to the Silver Bow 4-H clubs. The livestock sale followed in catalog order. The fair’s own notice described “beef, pork, lamb and even turkey.” Steers and hogs went to Western Meat Block for processing. Lambs went to Tizer Meats in Helena, and turkey sellers arranged their own processing.

A bidder who does not want the meat can buy through resale. The winning bidder’s animal goes on a resale list at the current market price. The bidder pays only the difference, and the exhibitor keeps the full amount of the bid. The list is kept at the MSU Extension office by Kellie Kahtani, the county’s 4-H agent. At the 2023 fair she put it plainly: “We have room on our resale list as well -- especially for lamb. So if you like lamb, come and see me at the fair, we’ll get your name on that list.”

A rodeo ground south of the airport

The fair has moved often in recent years. In May 2018, NBC Montana reported that it was going to the Butte Vigilante Rodeo and Saddle Club, south of Bert Mooney Airport, “at least for this year.” Club president Dan McGee said county commissioners had agreed to sell the club two steel buildings for livestock. The buildings had once been used near the old Montana Pole Plant, a Superfund site. The land under the rodeo grounds came from Don Harrington of the Butte Pepsi bottling company, who gave it to the club before he died in 2013. McGee said Harrington had always hoped the fair would land there. “Silver-Bow County did not have any fairgrounds, and he wanted to have a facility that was made for the kids and the fair,” McGee said. “Don was a big lover of rodeo and kids being involved in agriculture.” The same report noted plans to remove mining contaminants from areas around the Civic Center.

On the Monday night before the 2018 fair, John Sorich, Lisa Braco and Jacki Casagranda measured and built horseshoe pits at the rodeo grounds while Wayne Chimulera drove the loader. The Montana Standard listed what followed over three days: a 4-H livestock auction, magic and talent shows, “fair food” vendors, and “of course” a pie-eating contest.

In May 2020 the fair was cancelled outright. The 4-H council, the livestock committee, volunteers and the Extension agent got approval from the county health department for Project Assessment Days instead, spread across the last week of July for social distancing. A horse show opened the event on a Friday afternoon. Indoor projects were judged in interviews with community judges from Sunday through Wednesday, and the 4-H market sale closed things out on Monday night. Thirty-nine members exhibited 120 indoor projects, 35 market animals and 32 breeding animals and horses. According to the Extension report, members and parents liked the spread-out judging, which caused less stress and congestion than the old single evening.

Uptown at the Original Mine

On July 27, 2023, the fair opened at the Original Mine in Uptown Butte, the first time the event had been held there. NBC Montana noted that it had traditionally been on the flats. “It’s one of those locations in the community that people look to for festivals and events,” Kahtani told KXLF. The theme was “Catch the Fair Bug.” The day before the opening, pigs were driven up in a truck and ushered into pens. Bridger Smith, 8, watched over his and his brother’s pigs and hoped to sell his own, Rocko. By Thursday afternoon there were ducks quacking on the grounds. About 55 children brought some 60 animals.

Some of those children slept on the grounds with the cattle, sheep and pigs. “There may be some interesting noises throughout the night,” Kahtani said, “but for the most part, the livestock will sleep.”

Karissa Shope, entering ninth grade, had been in 4-H for nearly a decade. Her cat Walter, a 3-year-old American Shorthair, took grand for showmanship and composition, which sent Shope on to Friday’s round robin. “But not for Walter,” she said. “Walter is not going to go. Because unfortunately, cats like their people and not everyone around them sometimes. But I do get to take my chicken with me though, so that’s enjoyable.” The country singer Priscilla Block gave the Friday concert, the only ticketed event of that fair. Jeff Martin did magic at noon, 2 and 4 each day, and the Butte band High Ore Road played Saturday night. The Extension office later reported attendance as the highest in years.

The fair came down to the Civic Center in 2024, August 1 to 3, under the theme “Celebrating Our Wild Heritage.” Organizers said the Original Mine Yard had been a success, but the Civic Center offered more room for activities and on-site parking, and they hoped it would be permanent. Little Texas headlined. Spanky Spangler, 74, jumped from a 100-foot manlift before retiring. “We’re very fortunate that we get to see Spanky jump for his last time at 74-years-old,” said fair board president Josh O’Neill. “What a great deal.”

In 2025 the Montana Standard ran the fair under the headline “Jumps, bands, rodeos on tap for Butte-Silver Bow Fair, but 4-H kids are the true stars.” That year’s schedule included a 4-H alpaca show, the Wyldman Rodeo with saddle broncs and mutton bust’n, an archives traveling exhibit, and a Saturday street dance with the Wayne Brothers and the Nite Life Band. The 2026 fair was the third straight year at the Civic Center. “They’ve bent over backwards to accommodate whatever we ask for,” Boyle said.