Goshen County Fair

The Goshen County Fair Grounds lie at 4740 U.S. Highway 26/85 on the edge of Torrington. The forty acres hold the Rendezvous Center, the Pavilion, the Ag Hall, the Frontier Shelter, the Grass Show Ring, Patriot Field, a sheep barn, and the Sunshine Arena at the north end, which has holding pens and an outdoor arena “for critters to stretch their legs.” A loading chute with pens stands at the north end of the Pavilion. The county department that runs the grounds keeps them busy year-round, with an average of 1,200 events and activities a year. Its notice to travelers with horses reads: “The gates at the Goshen County Fair Grounds are never locked…..we don’t have any!!!”

Stephanie Bumguardner is general manager. Leroy Milligan is arena director, and Eleno Oliva is maintenance supervisor. A seven-member fair board chaired by Marlisa Hall oversees the fair, and Kim Craft coordinates the shows. The state’s list of 2026 county fairs gave Goshen’s dates as July 24 through August 2, 2026.

Roping, rodeo, and pig wrestling in the Pavilion

The 2026 printed schedule opened Saturday, July 25, at 9 a.m. with the Goshen County Team Roping at the Sunshine Arena. It closed Sunday, August 2, at 10 a.m. with the Ranch Horse Showcase in the Pavilion. Between those two mornings the Pavilion held:

• a Clare Dunn concert the first Saturday night
• a ranch rodeo Sunday afternoon
• Punisher’s Motorcycle Rodeo on Tuesday
• the Platte River Roughstock Showdown on Thursday afternoon
• the Rising Champions Timed Event Jackpot, a Vegas qualifier, on Saturday, August 1

Kiwanis Pig Wrestling went on in the Pavilion at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 29. Go Goshen, the county’s tourism and chamber office, wrote of the 2025 contest that seating “fills up fast.” Pig wrestling is one of the few events on the grounds that may carry a small admission charge. Beef N Brews, the Goshen CattleWomen’s celebration of locally raised beef, is another. In 2026 it filled the Frontier Shelter on Sunday evening, July 26, with live music. In 2025 the band was The Greene Machine.

Children have their own series, Lil’ Bits N Spurs. It began with dog races in the Grass Show Ring at noon Sunday. At 3 p.m. came the Big Barn Bash, with a pedal tractor pull, duck races, goldfish races, face painting, dummy roping, a chore relay, hair tinsel and braids, and free backpacks. It ended with mutton bustin’ in the Pavilion on Thursday evening. Peterson’s Power Wheels Derby ran Tuesday at 5 p.m. An American Ninja Warrior course stood on Patriot Field from Wednesday through Friday and closed with a first responder tournament Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Friday night also brought Cowpie Bingo at the flagpole, a corn hole tournament in the Grass Show Ring, and Southern Fryed playing the Frontier Shelter from 9 to 11.

Barns and show rings

The youth livestock shows run through the week. The 2026 schedule began with a cat show Monday in the Rendezvous Center and a pocket pet show Tuesday in the Brand Room. Monday night brought 4-H and open dog agility. A horse show filled the Pavilion at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Rabbits and poultry were shown in the Frontier Shelter on Wednesday. Market and breeding beef went into the Grass Show Ring at 7:30 that morning. Dairy cattle followed on Thursday, and dairy goats on Friday at the Goat Show Ring. Sheep, goats, and swine had their own breeding and market classes.

Some contests go beyond the animals’ conformation. A bucket calf show ran Sunday evening. The Sheep Lead Contest ran Monday at 5 p.m. Go Goshen wrote of the 2025 edition that contestants “blend fashion and showmanship with their woolly companions.” Thursday afternoon held the Supreme Cow Contest and the Goshen County Bred & Fed shows for beef, lamb, and goat. Friday brought the Round Robin Showmanship Contest and Herdsmanship Awards, then the Cloverbud Show, then an All Species Costume Contest at 3:15.

At 5:30 p.m. Friday the Junior Livestock Sale opened in the Frontier Shelter. Goshen County produces more cattle each year than any other county in Wyoming, according to WyoHistory.org. Go Goshen notes that many barns welcome visitors to walk through during the day.

The Ag Hall

The open class exhibits fill the Ag Hall, which was open to visitors from Tuesday, July 28, through Friday, July 31, in 2026. In 2025, exhibits in the Ag Hall and Rendezvous Center included hand-stitched quilts, original photography, decorated cakes, floral arrangements, woodworking, Legos, and preserves.

The agriculture department accepts only crops grown in Goshen County. Entries include three ears of sweet corn, five potatoes, and sheaves of alfalfa, millet, oats, barley, rye, or wheat tied with twine.

Canned goods must follow approved recipes, among them Preserving Food in Wyoming (2023), “including the proper adjustments for altitude.” Each jar is labeled with the altitude at which it was processed, and electric pressure cookers are barred. Egg entries are a dozen to a carton: one egg stays on display, and the other eleven are sold.

The craft department lists classes for a Duct Tape Item, a Pallet Project, Trash to Treasure, and Legos. The floral arrangements in the 2026 book took the theme “250 years of Grit and Glory.” A floriculture class called On Wheels requires every entry to be on wheels.

The unjudged portion of each baked entry goes to the Baked Goods & Egg Sale. In 2026 it was held in the North Wing of the Ag Hall at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 30, with proceeds going to Ag Hall improvements.

Goshen County Day on Main Street

Thursday of fair week is Goshen County Day. In 2026 it began with the Goshen County Fair Foundation’s Ag Breakfast in the Rendezvous Center from 7 to 9. The fair parade stepped off on Main Street at 10. Go Goshen described the 2025 parade as floats, horses, marching bands, and tractors.

Back at the grounds, the afternoon held a static exhibit auction and radio club demonstrations on Patriot Field. Supper was a Lamb BBQ and the Platte Valley Bank Ice Cream Social at the sheep barn. A flag ceremony, Salute Old Glory, had been held the evening before at the flagpole by the Rendezvous Center.

Go Goshen’s 2025 account lists the stand food as kettle corn, fresh-squeezed lemonade, walking tacos, barbecue, burgers, and funnel cakes. It adds that many stands were run by local organizations raising money for youth programs and school clubs.

A fair association in a new county

Torrington began as a watering and coaling station on the Burlington line, which started passenger service in 1900. William G. Curtis named the town for his Connecticut birthplace, and WyoHistory adds his English ancestral home. A post office called Torrington opened in 1889 on Curtis’s farm, three miles west of the later town. Curtis served as postmaster and later as mayor. The townsite was surveyed in April 1900, and lots sold for one dollar.

Goshen County was created on February 9, 1911, from the northern end of Laramie County, and its government was organized in January 1913. Torrington and Lingle competed to be county seat. Torrington won after its citizens raised $40,000 toward a courthouse. On July 4, 1913, the three-story courthouse was dedicated with a parade, a county-wide picnic, a baseball game against a team from Morrill, Nebraska, fireworks, and two dances.

Wikipedia’s article on Torrington places the founding of the Goshen County Fair Association around that time, when early motor cars were showing up in town. It gives Torrington a population of 443 in 1915, a passage the article flags as needing a citation. The Wyoming State Archives hold the association’s corporate records for 1913 to 1922: articles of incorporation, by-laws, minutes, resolutions, and deeds.

A photograph at the Homesteaders Museum, now housed in the town’s old Union Pacific depot, carries the caption “Goshen County fair parade, Torrington, 1919.”

On August 12, 1926, the Pinedale Roundup reported that the Goshen county fair would be held beginning September 1. It called this “the first Goshen county fair for a number of,” and the scanned text garbles the rest of the line.

That October 10, according to WyoHistory, the Holly Sugar factory at Torrington began processing sugar beets, 21,000 tons in its first year. The factory, later Western Sugar Cooperative, closed in early 2019. The fair book still carries classes for the single largest sugar beet, the single most perfect sugar beet, and the three most perfect.