Garfield County Fair & Rodeo

At seven in the morning on fair days, the Spinner’s Potato Booth at the Garfield County Fairgrounds begins selling biscuits and gravy. By ten the exhibit buildings and concession stands are open, and the barns have been at work for hours. The Garfield County Fair & Rodeo runs three days each September at 99 Fairgrounds Road in Pomeroy, Washington, under the WSU/Garfield County Extension. During fair week, family passes are sold by Monica Bartlow at the fair office, among other places. The 2026 fair ran September 18 through 20 by the fair’s own schedule and the county’s page. The East Washingtonian’s preview that year gave a theme, “United at the Fair,” marking the nation’s 250th birthday, and printed the dates as September 11 to 13.

Barns, halls and the Saturday sale

The livestock program opened Friday of the 2026 fair with the poultry and rabbit show at 8 a.m. Beef, swine, sheep and goat classes followed into the afternoon, with Open Class, FFA and 4-H exhibitors judged in turn. On Saturday, swine fitting and showing began at 8:15, and the Lil’ Pardners, children under 4-H age, showed beef a second time at nine. At one o’clock the livestock round robin brought together the 4-H senior and FFA junior and senior fitting-and-showing winners by species. At three, the Extension served cake and Ferdinand’s ice cream at the Delbert Niebel Arena.

At four came the Market Livestock Sale. All grand champions sell first, then the reserve champions in each barn, in the order steers, goats, lambs, hogs. The East Washingtonian’s account of the 2026 fair spoke of “beautiful weather and ‘fair’ attendance” and of townspeople turning out to “hear the chant of the auctioneer.” When the sale ends, the motorcycle and ATV arena games begin.

The exhibit halls fill during the week before the gates open. The Home Economics Department takes baking, canning and preserving, needlework, clothing, crafts and woodwork. Fine arts and photography have their own department, cereal grains go to the Agricultural Room, and there are classes for fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers, along with a giant pumpkin contest. On the 2026 Saturday the needlework department gave a demonstration at 1:45, and the fine arts department followed with painting demonstrations at two.

Beyond the halls stands the Eastern Washington Agricultural Museum, which opens at nine on fair days for equipment exhibitions and seminars, with ice cream making among its demonstrations. On Saturday the antique farm equipment show sets up on the baseball field by the museum, and a horseshoe tournament is pitched next to the horse stalls.

A camel on the grandstand grass

Rizzy the Camel and Friends kept the grandstand grass from eleven to four on the Friday and Saturday of the 2026 fair. A newspaper photograph caught Rizzy “patiently absorbing the admiration of Boone Klaveano and Jacob Heitstuman, up close and personal,” and its caption added that “Mickey Richards’ menagerie is always a fair favorite.” Lawrence Huntley played hammer dulcimer from noon to two both days, and Jacob Hirsh played Saturday from noon to 1:30.

Children had temporary tattoos on Friday, offered in unicorn, farm, pirate and other designs, and free face painting by Fish Kiss Face Art on Saturday. Saturday at 1:30 brought Minute to Win It, a fair-themed game and a straw search in front of the grandstand. In the week before the 2026 fair, a post on the fair’s page announced that someone had “left the gate open again” and asked children to gather up the farm animals all weekend and return them to the Fair Office for special prizes.

On Friday evening the fair moves into town. The parade lines up at 4:30 in the high school parking lot and goes downtown at 5:30. Best youth entry in 2026 went to Kessah Hill, daughter of Jason and Lindsay Hill. Back at the grounds, the 4-H Camp All Youth Dance runs from 7:30 to ten in the concession breezeway.

Sunday in the rodeo arena

Sunday opens with an open horse show at eight, followed by cowboy church from ten to eleven. At eleven come the chicken scrambles and the balloon toss in front of the grandstands. The rodeo begins at one o’clock in the rodeo arena, which has its own concessions.

The contestants are mostly neighbors, sorted by age. Children seven and under ride sheep in mutton busting. Six- to eight-year-olds tie ribbons to goats’ tails, and five-year-olds and younger untie them. The calf scramble is for ages eight to twelve, and steer riding for eight to fifteen. Barrel racing runs in pee-wee, junior and senior divisions. The 2026 card also included breakaway and team roping, bull riding for those sixteen and older, and wild cow milking by teams of three. Contest winners are announced at the rodeo arena at three. From four o’clock the halls empty as exhibitors carry off their jars, quilts and canvases, and everything must be gone by five.

Forty-five years in the exhibit hall

The fair week also has a breakfast. On the Saturday of the 2026 fair, the Pomeroy Chamber of Commerce served its Cowboy Breakfast from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Spinners Maple Hall. The awards program was moved from eight to 7:30 because, the newspaper reported, one of the honorees had obligations at the fair. Chamber President Melody Tillinghast presented a plaque to Mary Flerchinger, and Tom Herres served as master of ceremonies. The East Washingtonian names the honor three ways: Cowboy Hall of Fame, Cowboy Breakfast Hall of Fame, and, in one photo caption, the Garfield County Fair Hall of Fame.

Flerchinger’s service began in 1981, when Polly Scott asked her to be Superintendent of Crafts in the Home Economics Building. There she supported sewing, quilting, canning and baking. Since 2000 she has been superintendent of the Fine Arts Department. In 2021 that department received the Black and White Award from the State Fair Commissioner for being the favorite exhibit. Flerchinger grew up in Wisconsin. With her husband, Steve, she raised four children on a farm in Garfield County. She paints the landscapes around her home at Peola and leads the Blue Mountain Artisan Guild. Active in the Catholic Church, she writes icons of the saints for friends and parishioners.

The same breakfast gave Jay Franks the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. Among his services, organizers cited his work with the Garfield County Fair Board and the Eastern Washington Agricultural Museum. Others who kept the divisions running appear in the town’s obituaries. Joan Kay Herres was born in 1947, finished Pomeroy High School in 1965 and died in 2013. She was a 4-H leader and worked in the craft and poultry divisions of the fair. Her notice also records that she was the neighborhood seamstress.