Clatsop County Fair

The Clatsop County Fair & Expo stands on 109 acres overlooking the Walluski River. The fair puts it three miles from Astoria; a 2009 county master plan puts it four miles southeast of the courthouse. Walluski Loop Road cuts the property in two, and a footbridge carries people between the halves. The northern tract holds the buildings: an exhibit hall, a 40,000-square-foot indoor arena that seats 1,800, livestock barns, a covered open-air arena built in 2008, and an old wooden barn and houses from the farm that stood here early in the 20th century. The fair office is a white house on the west side of the main building. The southern tract runs down to the river behind an earthen levee and tide gates. Much of it is wetland and 100-year floodplain, and the 2009 plan counted only about a third of the ground as usable. RV hookups sat on the high ground, and the low fields were farmed.

Rides, ribs and 941 exhibits

The 2026 fair ran July 22 to 25, a week earlier than usual. The carnival came back for the first time since 2021. Rainier Amusements set up rides and midway games, which ran until 10 p.m. on the Friday and Saturday. “The rides and games help bring families to the fairgrounds, where they can also experience the agricultural exhibits, livestock shows, youth programs, and community competitions that are at the heart of the fair,” said Kyle Sharpsteen, manager of the Fair & Expo Center, when the return was announced in March. Country singer Kameron Marlowe headlined the concert on Friday, July 24, and the Kruse Brothers opened. Hagys Live Fire BBQ served ribs in the concert’s VIP section. The sponsor roll for the fair named a petting zoo, a kid zone, a corn pit, a people mover, a photo booth, a main entertainment stage and an Extreme Lumberjacks Show.

The fair counted 941 exhibits in 2026. Local 4-H and FFA members show livestock they have raised and cared for, and the livestock auction came at mid-day on July 25. Saphira Pietila of Astoria wrote to The Astorian in May asking the community to “show up and support these amazing kids and their projects.” The talent show is judged in three divisions. In 2026 it went to Henley Hudkins among the children, Abigail Watson among the youth and Dixie Joyce among the adults. The Rascal Rodeo is the fair’s all-ages adaptive rodeo.

A Sasquatch call and a pot of chili

The 2025 fair ran under the theme “Stars, Stripes and Summer Nights.” It offered a car show with a Pinewood Derby, a “Deep Pit” barbecue competition, magic shows and a market auction. Country singer Rodney Atkins headlined. The live community competitions were in their second year: chili cookoff, scarecrow decorating, floral arrangement, an online photo contest, axe throwing, watermelon eating and marksmanship. Matthew Cano won the watermelon contest.

The newest entry was the Sasquatch Calling Contest, which the fair’s website said would challenge entrants to “try your best YEEEAAARRRGHH.” Sharpsteen allowed that it had no ties to the fair’s agricultural roots, but called Sasquatches a “Pacific-Northwest Americano thing.” Katrina Sturgeon of Northwest Oregon Works said the point was for contestants to “feel good about being silly.” She added that each contest was “there for the whole community, not just (for) folks that are tied to 4-H or the Future Farmers of America.”

The chili cookoff had two parts: a panel of five judges and a People’s Choice vote by fairgoers at 11 a.m. Mandy Holthsen, the 2024 winner, came back to defend her title before opening a food truck. “I want to be able to say ‘hey try my chili’ (because) people want to try that award-winning chili,” she said. Talent show winners took cash prizes from $25 to $150, and one winner from each division went on to the Oregon State Fair Talent Search.

Bulls and broncs in November

The grounds are in use all year. The Astoria Warrenton Crab, Wine & Seafood Festival and the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival are held here, along with monster trucks, mud bogs, swap meets, bazaars and weddings. Willie Nelson and Tracy Lawrence have played concerts here. Barrel and pole races were set for October 10 and November 7, 2026, with board member Mallory Litehiser taking questions.

The Clash of the Cowboys, a roughstock rodeo, reaches its third year on Saturday, November 14, 2026. Free pre-show activities start at 4 p.m. in the Exhibit Hall: dummy roping, a mechanical bull, music and food. The Indoor Arena opens at 6, and at 7 the bull riding, bareback and saddle bronc riding and barrel racing begin.

The fair board oversees all of it under Oregon law. Its seven citizens are appointed by the county commissioners to three-year terms, and Abigale Goodman chairs it. The fair’s calendar lists the 2027 fair for July 28 to 31.

A theater on the tide flats

The first Clatsop County Fair was held in 1905 together with the annual Astoria Regatta. Its home was Hedrick’s Theatre, a two-story building built over the tide flats at 12th and Duane. The Lower Columbia Preservation Society notes that fire and redevelopment later reshaped that site. In 1906 and 1908 the fair used the basement of the county courthouse, which was not yet finished.

In 1911 the county granges brought the fair to Gearhart Park, a coastal resort with rail access. O. W. Taylor recruited the park’s auditorium and livery stable for community events, the fair among them. Accounts of how long the fair stayed differ. The preservation society gives 1911 to 1914, The Astorian gives 1911 through 1919, and the fair’s own history says only that it was back in downtown Astoria by 1920.

The fair puts the Port of Astoria years at 1921 to 1941. The preservation society’s dates differ. It lists waterfront sites from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1930, including Pier 3 and the old O.W.R.&N. dock. From 1931 to 1935, in its account, 4-H fairs met in the Fellman Building, a downtown store left empty by foreclosure and a bank failure. The Regatta Pavilion was lost in 1940, and the society writes that fire “once again forced change.” In 1941 the fair moved to 20th Street and Marine Drive, near Gyro Field. There 4-H leaders put up an exhibit building, barns and an arena, and the fair stayed through the 1994 season.

An experiment station and a timber bond

In 1994 the county turned over the old John Jacob Astor Experiment Station to the fair board. The land had more recently served as the Clatsop Community College farm, and according to the preservation society, part of it was once the county Poor Farm. Voters approved a $1.995 million bond for improvements, to be paired with money from the sale of the Marine Drive site. The county paid off the bonds with accrued timber revenue instead, so taxpayers never paid the measure. The new grounds opened in August 1995.

The 2005 fair ran August 2 through 6, with daily animal shows and a logging show. Steve Azar played opening night, free with fair admission. “He is a nationally known and popular performer and songwriter who engages his audience,” said board member Paul Mitchell, who handled entertainment. Open-class contests that year included Best Preserves in the County, The County’s Best Shrimp Salad and the Hermiston Watermelon’s Champion Spit-Off.

In 2006 voters passed Ballot Measure 4-113, a levy of nine cents per $1,000 of assessed value. It paid for a new arena and a snap-together floor for the main arena. Two years later the board hired Maul Foster & Alongi to draw up a master plan, dated January 6, 2009. The plan proposed restoring the old farm buildings and hanging photographs of historic events on the hall walls. It also proposed filling poor wetland for usable upland in exchange for better wetland elsewhere. “Restoring tidal influence to creeks,” it said, “would provide excellent rearing habitat for Young’s River salmon recovery.”