Dawson County Fair

The Dawson County Fairgrounds lie half a mile north of Exit 215 on Interstate 94, at 2200 North Merrill Avenue in Glendive. Fair week opens before the gate does. In 2026 it began at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21, with 4-H and FFA dog showmanship, obedience and agility, followed by the open class dog show. Cats came next, then rabbits, then poultry, then the small animal round robin. Wednesday belonged to the open class horse show and, at about 4 p.m., the driving horses. The public fair ran three days, July 23, 24 and 25. Admission at the gate was $3.

The grounds hold grandstands, a rodeo arena with chutes, exhibit buildings, barns, a grass arena and a bump-n-run track. The Dawson County Fair Board, a chairperson and eight other members, runs them, along with fair manager Lindsay Tennant. Between fairs the board leases the grounds for wedding receptions, family and class reunions, a youth livestock jackpot show and Bump N Run car races. The fairgrounds close for the winter.

Barns, a pageant and the Watermelon Games

Thursday of the 2026 fair began at 7 a.m. with entries of horticulture, floriculture and baked goods. Open class judging followed at 10. At 5 p.m. the 4-H and FFA livestock judging started with market goats and moved on to dairy cows, cloverbuds and beef. Pigs, sheep, dairy goats and orphan animals were shown at 7:30 Friday morning. At 4 p.m. Friday, 4-H members sold their animals in the grass arena.

Thursday evening ran on engines. Octane Addictions took the grandstand at 7 p.m. In a video the fair posted that afternoon, Brett Turcotte invited people to the show; the fair billed him as a 2026 X Games Winter gold medalist with ten X Games medals. Fair trivia started at 6, and a DJ played a street dance at 9.

On Friday afternoon the free stage hosted the Little Miss and Mini Miss Dawson County pageant. Idella Kirkpatrick was crowned Little Miss Dawson County Fair 2026 and Elowen Plummer Mini Miss. Molly Greenwalt and Kyleigh Delaney won the talent awards. Stori Murphy, Little Miss Watermelon 2025, helped with the crowning, and a magician, Keith Raymond, opened the show. The Watermelon Games followed on the free stage from 4 to 6. Saturday brought bingo, a cornhole tournament and the 4-H Adult Round Robin.

The fair’s own list of food ran to hot dogs, burgers, barbecue, pizza, tacos and lemonade. Burly’s Kettle Corn’s flavored lemonade, the fair said, was its best-selling drink in the heat. Vendor booths and community groups filled the space under the grandstands. The Kids Fun Zone carnival ran from 2 to 5 and from 6 to 11 each day. Riders bought a $25 wristband or paid by the ticket.

A concert one name short

On Friday, July 17, 2026, the fair board announced that Josh Ross would not play the fair concert. The Glendive Ranger-Review reported that Ross had signed a contract in February for the headliner spot, with Pam Tillis opening. “At this time, no explanation from Josh Ross has been provided to the fair, our booking agency or others involved in producing the event,” the board said. It added that it was weighing its legal options.

Tillis stayed on the bill. The fair’s website named her the 2026 night show, with Love & Theft and Bucky Covington opening, and its posted schedule still read “Josh Ross / Pam Tillis Concert” at 8 p.m. The night before the show, the fair moved the concert up an hour. Doors opened at 6 p.m. Saturday and the music started at 7.

The concert usually pairs a known name with a newcomer. Zach Top and Little Texas played in 2024, and Braxton Keith opened for Tracy Byrd in 2025. Board vice chairman Shawn Walker told the Ranger-Review that pairing an established star with an up-and-coming act “has been a formula that has worked well.” The 2025 show sold 1,301 tickets, about 13 percent fewer than the year before. Tennant said it covered costs and turned a small profit. “It’s always kind of a gamble, but it paid off for us,” she said.

At its first meeting after the 2026 fair, the board went over a list of 15 artists from promoter Ward Hilger, five each from ‘90s country, 2000s country and modern country. Tennant said she would like more country options and perhaps some rock bands. “I like country more, but I’m open to seeing other options,” said board member Chance Wilson.

Broncs on a PRCA card

The rodeo filled the Friday night of the 2026 fair, at 7 p.m. Shorty’s Bar and Grill ran the beer booth, and the Tanner Laws Band played a street dance afterward. The next morning the fair posted the winners of the wild pony race, three young riders to a team. Will Choat, Monte Goggin and Coy Hudson took first.

The Dawson County Fair and Rodeo joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1965. The PRCA’s results for July 30, 2022, give a sense of a night at Glendive. J Bar J supplied the stock, and Barney Sheridan announced. Connor Murnion won the saddle bronc riding with 82 points on J Bar J’s Quitting Time. Ashley Day took the barrels in 17.44 seconds. In the bull riding, nobody made a qualified ride.

That connection is now in question. The Ranger-Review reported on October 2, 2026, that last year’s rodeo drew few contestants because a rodeo with a bigger purse fell around the same date. It also reported that the PRCA is raising its required purses. “So, in 27 you’ve got to be at $1,500, 28 you’ve got to have $2,000 and 29 you’ve got to have $3,000,” said board treasurer Larry Evans. “For this year it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but after that it’s going to get tough.” Livestock and announcer fees differ between associations, so the board planned to get quotes before deciding whether to move to the National Rodeo Association.

A bank director and a pump house

The fair is old enough that its beginning has gone unrecorded. A 1921 county history, Montana: Its Story and Biography, already called Glendive “the scene of the annual Dawson County Fair.” A 1910 issue of the Chicago trade paper The Show World listed W. B. Foster as secretary of the Dawson County Fair Association, Glendive.

The city directory of 1912 lists George McCone as the association’s president, at 218 West Towne Street. McCone was born in New York in 1854. He carried mail between Fort Reno and Fort Sill and later from Bismarck to Fort Keogh. In 1882 he went into cattle on Burns Creek, about 40 miles from Glendive. That same year he joined the first board of county commissioners for Dawson County, where he served until 1900. In the state senate he sponsored the McCone Act, which let new counties be created by popular vote. McCone County, created in 1919, is named for him.

In 1938 the federal Works Progress Administration came to the grounds. The Big Timber Pioneer reported on August 18: “The irrigation project for the Dawson county fairgrounds is under way. WPA workmen are laying pipe and building a house for installation of pumping equipment on the Yellowstone river with a capacity of 9,000 gallons an hour. Pressure will be maintained by the large tank west of the main building which is ready for use.”

Gate counts and a borrowed scale

Tennant became fair manager in 2023. That summer the fair held the first Dawson County Archery Competition, organized by archery leader Danielle Wold. It had a public division and a 4-H division with six competitors, and Montana State University Extension reported that it would continue. Before the 2024 fair, Dawson County 4-H bought its own livestock scale. Until then it had borrowed one from a local family.

Attendance at the 2024 fair rose 43.5 percent, despite triple-digit heat. The 2025 fair drew 5,432 people over three days, by gate count: 798 on Thursday, 2,314 on Friday and 2,320 on Saturday. Wristband sales for the carnival, run by a Great Falls company, came to $20,160. New that year were the trivia night, the Watermelon Games and the Little Miss Watermelon pageant. “It was our small events that made it just that much more fun,” Tennant said.

At the October 2026 meeting, the board listed the work to finish before closing the grounds for the winter. It needed to hang a newly built racehorse gate, already delivered, in place of a broken one. Weeds spreading across the grounds had to be sprayed, and every electric meter on the grounds had to come out.