Caribou County Fair & Rodeo

Coming east from Pocatello on US-30, through Lava Hot Springs and on to Grace, the Caribou County Fairgrounds appear on the left as the road enters town. They fill the north end of a town of about 950 people. The rodeo arena, the livestock barns, the exhibit halls and an RV park of pull-through spaces all sit within walking distance of one another. For six days each August the grounds hold the county’s largest annual event, which the fair puts at tens of thousands of visitors. The gate is free and so is the main parking lot. Only a seat in the arena takes a ticket.

The Caribou County Fair Board runs the fair, and its members are volunteers. In 2026 Jake Barfuss was chairman and Shelley Reeves secretary. The 2026 fair was the 79th by the board’s count. It ran August 3 through 8, though two of the fair’s own pages give August 2 as the start. Its theme was “Stars, Stripes & Summer Nights,” for the nation’s 250th year. The grand marshals were Claude and Lani Sant, a ranching couple the News-Examiner placed in Grace; the fair’s press page lists them under Grace and Soda Springs. Claude grew up on the family ranch and credits his parents, Dell and Delora Sant, with teaching him to work hard and treat others with respect. Lani, the paper reported, left behind everything familiar when she moved to the ranch. The two were introduced by family and friends, and both admit they were hesitant at first.

Five nights in the arena

The arena opens on Monday evening with jackpot team roping, free to watch. A caption in the county paper notes that team roping was one of the fair’s earliest events, starting on Monday. In 2026 Trails West presented it as the Grace Fair Roping: #6.5 and #10.5 ropings for saddles and buckles, with $3,000 guaranteed to first.

Tuesday and Wednesday belong to the PRCA rodeo at 7:30. It runs bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, barrel racing, team roping, steer wrestling and tie-down roping, at $15 for adults and $8 for children. The fair calls it the highlight of the week. In 1999 the rodeo won the Wilderness Circuit’s Justin Best Footing Award. The award was created for rodeo committees that put extra effort into preparing and maintaining their grounds. The board of that year learned of it in mid-November: Boyd Schvanaveldt, Valerie Ackerman, David Banks, Pat Stoor, Steve White, Keith Rigby and Delvin Humble.

Thursday brings the Gem Valley Stampede, a community ranch rodeo with mini bulls and mutton busting. Admission is by donation, with a suggested minimum of $5. The money goes to children and families in crisis in the county. The fair’s press page names the recipient as the Caribou Kids Crisis Foundation; its Facebook page calls it the Kids in Caribou County Crisis Fund. Friday night in 2026 was new: a concert by Endless Summer, America’s Beach Boys Experience. The fair posted that evening that the concert would be “a little delayed in starting.” A family dance in the Show Barn followed it. Saturday closes with the United Truck and Tractor Pulls, billed as the final arena event.

Barns, stage, and Main Street

By day the fair belongs to the 4-H and FFA. More than 200 youth exhibitors show seven species, and more than $15,000 in scholarships is awarded. The 2026 schedule ran horses in the arena on Monday morning and the working ranch horse and dog shows on Tuesday. Swine and meat goats followed on Wednesday. Sheep, poultry, rabbits, pigeons and beef came on Thursday, with round robin showmanship that afternoon. On Friday a buyer’s brunch preceded the market animal sale at 10 in the Show Barn. The animals went home Saturday morning. In the exhibit hall, open-class entries covered produce, crafts, baking, photography and fine arts. The 2026 cupcake contest was canceled “due to unforseen circumstances,” the fair posted.

Quincy Fox, 13, was named both Grand Champion Market Sheep and Grand Champion Showman at the 2026 fair. The News-Examiner story gave her home as Grace and its photo caption as Thatcher. Her lamb was Lucy, short for Lucifer, a name chosen for the animal’s ornery temper. Fox fed her each morning and worked her most evenings, watching herself in a mirror to check how she set the lamb up. “I’m not going to lie, I shed more than a few tears this summer,” she told the paper. “Some from Lucy beating me up and some from being flat out discouraged when things weren’t going right.” Of the show ring she said: “When I won market, I was just really excited, but then when I won showmanship too. I was almost in tears because I couldn’t believe it.” Her advice to younger exhibitors: “Just work hard and don’t give up.”

Between the barns the program turns lighter. Caribou’s Got Talent took the Entertainment Stage on Wednesday afternoon in 2026. Misty & The Sandman gave comedy hypnosis shows Thursday through Saturday. Tikki Shack and Greg Kaler, the Bubbler, roamed the grounds each afternoon. The petting zoo held goats, sheep and bunnies, and the Adventure Zone ran bouncy houses and games into the evening. On Wednesday at 1 the Kids Downtown Parade went down Main Street, with children riding decorated bikes and wagons or leading decorated pets. A mullet contest, new on August 4, 2026, was billed “Business in the front, party in the back.” Saturday morning brought a fair 5K and a Kids Market. The market began in 2019 as a day for young people 5 to 15 to sell baked goods and games of their own making. Food vendors, craft booths and a beer garden line the midway.

A dairy show in the Cavalry Barn

The fair dates itself to 1947. In its account, farmers and ranchers gathered after World War II to show livestock, crops and skills and to celebrate the harvest. Rodeo came in the 1950s and grew into the PRCA show, and the 4-H and FFA programs took hold in the 1960s. The same About page also speaks of “over a century” of fairs, and the 4-H page counts “100+ Years of Tradition.”

An older account sets the start earlier. “Gems” of Our Valley was published by the Grace Literary Club in 1977 and compiled by Vivian Simmons and Ruth Varley from residents’ histories, scrapbooks and interviews. It carries a chapter called “Black and White Days.” In it, Stanley Richardson, vocational agriculture instructor at Grace High School, tried a Dairy Cattle Show in 1928. Cooperating dairymen held it in the Cavalry Barn. In 1940 Alf Toone, Henry Lloyd, George Hogan and Harris Mickelson decided to hold another Black and White Show at Grace. Mickelson’s name appears again in the book’s acknowledgments, among those who went “the extra mile” in providing material.

Six bleachers and four barns

On February 21, 1944, a fair committee raised money and bought land from Charlotte L. Hubbard for a permanent site. The deeds were recorded on December 14, 1945, in the name of the Gem Valley Fair Association. A Women’s Department for preserved foods, needlecraft and sewing followed in 1946. On February 5, 1948, fair board members organized logging for bleachers and sheds. The lumber made six bleachers, four livestock barns, mangers and a restroom, and Dell Thompson and Warren King supervised the bleachers. On January 9, 1950, the board deeded the grounds to Caribou County.

The book then lists the grounds as they filled in. Wash racks and loading facilities came in 1957 and a horse barn in 1964. A beef barn went up in 1973, west of the large steel building. Land south of the cinder-block building was bought in 1975 to give the carnival and midway more room, and a new flagpole followed in 1976.

The county paper’s back files keep the fair’s later years. In 1970 the horse races were won by Blaine Robinson, Harold Passey, Merlin Peterson, Hyrum McLain, Vester Olsen, Merlin Wilde and Stanley Hull. That summer about 100 girls modeled garments they had sewn for the 4-H Style Revue, themed “Thank Heavens for Little Girls,” with placings announced at the fair. In 2019 the board pruned the entry categories, many of which had ended up empty or with a single entry. That fair’s theme was “Caribou County Fair; What a Gem!”, and each division featured a gem, so a quilting entry might be built around a diamond.

Two days after the 2026 fair closed, the board posted a notice to exhibitors. They had from 9 to noon to collect their items and premiums at the cinder block building. Any premiums left uncollected would count as a donation to the fair.