Cowlitz County Fair

On the northwest corner of the fairgrounds in Longview stands a 19th-century log cabin with a hand water pump outside it. During fair week the Cowlitz County Historical Society opens the Bush cabin and invites children to try walking on stilts or pumping water “the old fashioned way,” in the society’s words. On Friday, July 29, 2022, the museum’s coordinator, Danielle Robbins, helped two-year-old Adina Griffith work the pump while Justine Ojeda of Longview stood behind her. The society also holds a pie-eating contest at the cabin each year, and anyone is welcome to join.

Behind the cabin is a cell from the old county jail. Before the 2023 fair, society board members held a work party at the cabin and the jail and finished most of their list of repairs. “As stewards of these historic artifacts, it is vital that we preserve them,” wrote Lee Kessler, the board president. “It is also crucial that we use them as springboards for historic learning and insight.” That year’s fair theme was “Barn to be Wild,” and the museum dressed the cabin as a pioneer barn. It kept the cabin open from noon to 6 p.m. each day, with kids’ crafts, historic toys, giant Lincoln Logs lent by the Children’s Discovery Museum, and a new photo spot at the jail cell.

Four days on Seventh Avenue

The fair runs four days, Wednesday through Saturday in late July, from noon to 11 p.m. Entry is free. The fair’s website puts it this way: “Admission? Never heard of her.” Visitors leave their cars in the lot across 7th Avenue. The grounds are the 47-acre Cowlitz County Event Center, which lies just east of downtown Longview and west of the Cowlitz River. Washington Street bounds it on the north, Third Avenue on the east, and Peardale Lane and New York Street on the south. During the fair, Cowlitz County sheriffs post at the Washington Street gate to handle lost children. Bicycles, skateboards, scooters, alcohol, and animals are kept off the grounds, apart from service animals and show animals with permits.

The fair states its purpose as showcasing agriculture and natural resources and supporting 4-H and FFA, and the barns carry that out. In 2022, ribbons lined the cage of 17-year-old Rowon Markowski’s award-winning sheep. On Wednesday, July 23, 2025, seven-year-old Stetson Rask, a 4-H member from Winlock who had come to show pigs in the open class, stopped to pet one. The Daily News wrote in 2016 that the fair is less farm-centered than fairs east of the Cascades, though its livestock and equestrian shows still draw crowds and its craft competitions continue.

Pony rides run near the arena. On Thursday, July 28, 2022, Karen Triplett, owner and pony wrangler with Flying Hat Ranch, photographed a child on his first horse. The Paradise Amusements Carnival sells ride wristbands good for one rider during a five-hour session. Families can instead buy credit packs of 60 or 100, which work for rides, games, and food concessions. The Community Stage books local talent under the motto “Small stage. Big talent.” One fairgoer, Anna Leeper, is quoted on the fair’s site: “always lots of fun and great food!”

Saturday night at Thunder Mountain

The Thunder Mountain Pro Rodeo runs in the arena grandstands on the fair’s Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Prices climb through the week. In 2026, general admission was $13 on Thursday, $15 on Friday, and $20 on Saturday, with reserved seats at $15, $20, and $25. The fair’s entertainment page warns that “tickets sell real fast around here.”

The rodeo debuted in 1975 and has shifted from mostly local riders to professionals, with changes of name and affiliation along the way. In 2016 the Northwest Professional Rodeo Association made its debut there. That year Kim Cooper, the rodeo sponsorship coordinator, told The Daily News: “But our crowds stay with us. Saturday night sells out every year.” The paper described those Saturday nights under the floodlights. Broncos kicked dirt into the lowest rows, families huddled beneath blankets, and teenagers tried their luck at the beer garden without success.

From Catlin Park to the event center

The fair’s own account of its start is brief: “Over 80 years ago, someone decided Cowlitz County was going to have a fair.” County planning documents give the details. The first fair was held in 1937 in Catlin Park. The Floral Building went up on the present site in 1948, and in 1950 the 47-acre property became the fair’s home. The Bush cabin came to the historical society in 1953. The society itself had been founded in 1949.

In 2003 the newly formed Cowlitz Public Facilities District built the 40,000-square-foot Cowlitz Regional Conference Center on the grounds. Three years later, in 2006, the fair stopped charging admission. Attendance had fallen to 27,631 in 2005. Afterward it averaged nearly 50,000 a year, according to Kathi Mattinen, the fair coordinator, speaking in 2016, the year the 77th fair opened.

The fair was canceled in 2020. On June 14, 2021, organizers announced that the fair and rodeo would return that July 21 through 24, with changes made for the pandemic. In April 2024 the facilities district completed a master plan for the grounds. The plan proposes an indoor sports building of about 55,000 square feet to serve the fair, the rodeo, and other users. Capital funding for it was not secured as of June 2026.

The 2026 fair, held July 22 through 25, ran under the banner “American Made, County Raised.” The next is set for Wednesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 24, 2027.