Fremont County Fair

The open-class entries come in first. On Saturday, August 1, 2026, people carried sourdough, leatherwork, kids’ crafts and pies to the Fremont County Fairgrounds at 2350 Airport Road in St. Anthony. Through the following week the entries stayed on display for anyone walking through. A 2023 East Idaho News account found the same tables holding hand-stitched blankets, baked goods, and jams and jellies. In 2026 one Kid Zone entry disappeared, ribbon and all. Afterward the fair posted a request that it be brought to the Fremont Extension Office, because “the kid that made it would really love to get it back!”

A week on Airport Road

The Fremont County Fair Board runs the week, and the youth livestock shows fill its middle. In 2026 the beef show opened at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, August 5. Poultry followed at 4 p.m. under the big white tent, with the rabbit show after it. Lambs showed at 8:30 Thursday morning and goats at 1 p.m. Swine showed at 6 p.m. Thursday and again at 8 a.m. Friday. On the last day the animals went to buyers at the 4-H and FFA Livestock Market Sale. The board urged the public to “help them build a financial start by bringing home the bacon! (Or beef/lamb/goat/rabbit, your choice!)”

The evenings belong to the arena and the stage. On Tuesday, August 4, the fair held its first ranch rodeo, with payouts and prizes for the winner of each event, and the Opskamatrists played a free show at 7:30. On Wednesday the Max Palmer annual horse pulls brought what the fair called “the BIG horses” to the arena, and Keegan Park played at 6.

Friday brought a new event. United Truck & Tractor Pullers ran a truck and tractor pull, with the old iron pullers starting at 2:00 and the main event at 5:00. Elsewhere on the grounds stood the Big Rig & Bike Show and a walk-through tractor collection. Justin “JJ” Jones played the stage at 6, and the fair’s invitation was plain: “Come grab some dinner and enjoy a free concert at the stage!”

The final night was Saturday, August 8. Dawson Moon played from 5 to 7, and the demolition derby started at 7, with a new motorcycle balloon bash in the program. “We all know Fremont County appreciates a good demolition derby!” the fair wrote. Five bands and artists played the 2026 fair in all.

Dinner came from the vendor row, a mix of long-time vendors and new arrivals. In 2026 the row included Tacos La Perla Tapatia with street tacos, La Mexicana, Burger Smithy, Moto Munchies, and Crissy’s on the go. Izzy Bake Oven and Just Baked Kitchen Kreations by Michelle sold treats. A petting zoo held everything from puppies to iguanas.

Rodeo night and the boot

Thursday is the children’s day. On August 6, 2026, the program ran through bounce houses, face painting at 2:30, and a farmers market. At 4 p.m. candy dropped from a plane near the stage. The Green Band played in the evening.

The Fremont County Youth Rodeo filled the arena that night. Pee wee events began at 5:00 and grand entry at 6:00, and spectators got in free. Between events, the smallest children in the stands ran in a Calf Scramble for prizes. Kelly Biorn and Weston Siddoway kept the sheep and calf riders safe, and Scott Webster and Russ Miller judged. Members of the Fremont JH/HS Rodeo Team and their parents worked before, during and after. The fair board supplied the championship buckles.

That morning four wildfires were burning in neighboring Madison and Jefferson Counties, among them the Big Rock Fire and the Bryn Fire. One of the rodeo’s stock providers had received an evacuation order and asked for a trailer, sent as quickly as possible, for some of the livestock. During the rodeo the board passed a boot around the arena. The money went to the food and medical needs of people who had relocated with their livestock or pets. “Our county was founded on agriculture, and we all understand the losses to our neighbors’ homes and livelihoods,” the board wrote.

Two hundred trout and bare hands

Earlier that Thursday, at 2:00, the fish pond opened. The 2026 pond ran in ten-minute heats by age. Children from 1 to 4 years old went first, and the 15-to-18 group went last, from 2:50 to 3:00. A cooler stood by for children who did not want to keep their catch, and anyone who wanted those fish could take them from it. The fair asked that no one leave fish lying around the grounds: “No one likes stinky fish!”

East Idaho News described the 2025 pond. The board bought about 200 fish from a local hatchery. Most were rainbow trout, some were yellow trout, and a few were kokanee. The limit was one fish per child, caught by hand or with a plastic bag, and the younger children went first. Once everyone had a turn, children could go back in for leftovers to take home and eat. Some families gave their fish back, and those were passed on to families in need in the area.

That year was the third since the pond’s return. Board member Rebecca Anderson said her husband, who was born in St. Anthony, remembered the pond from his childhood and suggested bringing it back. When she joined the board, she revived it after roughly 30 years of inactivity. Anderson is originally from Rexburg. When her husband first described the event, she assumed the fish would be goldfish or toys, and they turned out to be real trout. “It was shocking. I laughed hysterically,” she said.

Tagenn Armstrong brought her son, Korbin Edginton, for his second time in 2025. The year before he had caught one of the yellow trout, which come with prizes. “It’s a good tradition. We really like it,” Armstrong said. “We do eat the fish, we smoke them.” Korbin said he had technically caught two that year, because he helped a buddy named Aiden get one. His advice for the next year’s children was that fish can’t see well, so they are easy to catch if you stand in front of them.

Fernando Martinez came with his daughter, Fernanda. “This is the second year I brought her out here, and she had more fun this year than the year before,” he said. “Since she had fun this year, we gotta come back next year.”

Old iron and a Rexburg rival

East Idaho News wrote in 2023 that the fair had been part of St. Anthony’s landscape for over 100 years. David L. Crowder’s 1983 history of Rexburg places it there in 1907. The first Rexburg “Fairival” ran September 12, 13, and 14 of that year, and Crowder calls its timing peculiar, since it coincided with the Fremont County Fair being held in St. Anthony.

The antique tractor show is described as a tradition almost as old as the fair itself. In 2023 dozens of restored and preserved tractors stood side by side. Heath Wade, who had served on the fair board for three years with his wife, Chayna, called it “very much a St. Anthony thing,” and laughed. “We’ve got people from all over Idaho to bring (tractors) here,” he said. “Some of these are a hundred years old. Some of these, they only made 150 of, and … you’ve seen them in magazines, but you haven’t seen them in person.”

That year’s Friday also brought stock dog demonstrations and the Rex Miller Memorial Horseshoe Competition. “That’s a big deal,” Heath said. “They’ll be here till midnight,” Chayna added. “Oh yeah — midnight, one o’clock in the morning,” Heath said. Admission to the 2023 fair was free. It closed with a ticketed concert by Chris Petersen, a Utah country singer known from America’s Got Talent. “Everything about a small-town fair is community,” Heath said. “It’s everybody coming together to make it happen.”

After the 2026 fair the board thanked the Fremont County Road & Bridge Department for lending equipment and crews. It also offered about a dozen leftover straw bales, free, from behind the stage, and they were soon picked up. The board has set the 2027 fair for August 2nd through 7th. On September 25, 2026, the fair’s page posted a trivia question, “What year was the first fair in fremont County??”, and left the answer to the comments.