Hot Springs County Fair

A rock wall surrounds the Hot Springs County Fairgrounds on Springview Street in Thermopolis. A bronze plaque is set in its west side, next to the main entrance. Inside are an indoor barn, an outdoor arena, about 100 horse stalls, and the Fairbuilding. On Thursday, July 30, 2026, the county’s fair exhibits stood open there for public viewing from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Wyoming Association of Fairs listed the 2026 fair as July 25th through 31st, with Sadie Eckley as its manager. Two evenings before that, the shooting sports had already begun.

Ranch rodeo and dog show

The Thermopolis Independent Record wrote that the 2026 fair would “kick off with a few events this week, followed by a full line up of events for the following week.” Shooting sports competitions opened it, on Thursday and Friday, July 23 and 24, at 5 p.m. at the Bob Milek Range. Every other event was held on the fairgrounds.

The youth horse show started at 8 a.m. on Saturday, July 25. That evening came the Thermopolis FFA Alumni Ranch Rodeo. The Calcutta began at 5:30 p.m., and the rodeo followed. Teams were five competitors, and each had to include a person over 60, a female, or a youth under the age of 14. They competed in team doctoring, wild cow milking, wild cow riding and the blind barrel race. No campers were allowed on the grounds until the rodeo was over, and the gates to the state park parking area were opened for trailers and campers.

The dog show was held Sunday at 6 p.m. On Monday, July 27, more shooting rounds began at 1 p.m. All livestock had to be on the grounds by 4:45 that afternoon, and weigh-ins began at five: steers first, then sheep, goats and pigs.

The livestock auction and bake sale

The 4-H and FFA Livestock Auction and Bake Sale closed out the week’s animals. Buyers bought an animal or baked goods, or added money onto the children’s projects. Afterward the fair board posted thanks to fifty-one buyers by name. They included Cowboy Mine Hay, Owl Creek Veterinary Service, Thurgood Hay Grinding, Rattlesnake Oil Field, Wind River Canyon Whitewater & Fly Fishing, the Quarter Circle D Ranch, and several McCumbers. The board ranked the top five in order: Ryan Brothers Trucking, Thermopolis Ace Hardware, McCumber Well Service, Mack’s Market, and One Eyed Buffalo.

A month later the grounds held the Smoking Water Demolition Derby, on Saturday, August 29, 2026. The fairgrounds announced it as “Under New Management.” Tickets were sold at O’Reilly’s, Car Quest and Owsley Feeds, and at the gate.

Roping nights in winter

The fair fills one week of a crowded calendar. In 2017 fairgrounds secretary Valerie Mead described the grounds to the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. “We have an indoor barn, an outdoor arena, about 100 horse stalls and lots of parking,” she said. “Every weeknight during the winter months, our facilities are booked for practice and roping events with local people.”

Mead also laid out the monthly schedule. The first weekend of each month brought team roping and team branding, and the second brought ranch sorting, from October through March. The Central Wyoming Cutting Show took the third weekend from October to March. The Cowboy State Stock Horse Show took the fourth from November to March. A Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeo ran two days every June. The WYO Quarter Horse Sale was held every third Saturday of May and second Saturday of September. “This draws people from all over the country,” Mead said.

Martin Bader retired as grounds manager in April 2017 after 28 years of building up those events, and Cahill Nettles succeeded him. Bader had once added up what one season of a high school rodeo and seven other events brought to town in motel rooms, food and gas. “The total hit around $100,000,” he said. “The events at the fairgrounds bring the city a lot of money in the wintertime when we don’t have any money coming from regular tourists.”

A wall on state land

The sources give different dates for the grounds. The Living New Deal records that the Works Progress Administration built them between 1935 and 1939, and lists the site as extant and marked by the plaque. Mead’s account placed them earlier. “The fairgrounds were built in the early 1930s,” she said. “They also built the rock wall around the grounds at that time through a work program, since it was built on state land.”

The town itself was named in the 1890s. Ben Hanson, founder of the original townsite, and Dr. Julius A. Schuelke of Lander called a meeting of the citizens. Someone proposed Hansonville. Schuelke already had a name picked out. One man present, Lee Walter, later recalled: “Out of his Latin or Greek — or something — Schuelke had evolved the name ‘Thermo’ meaning hot and ‘polis’ for city.”

The fair is older than its wall. The Billboard of March 14, 1914, ran the fair dates of the Inter-Mountain Fair and Racing Association, which met at Thermopolis. That list included the Hot Springs County Fair, Thermopolis, for the week of September 14. Ten years later, an advertisement in the Thermopolis Independent dated August 28, 1924, announced the First Annual County Fair. The Wyoming State Archives holds that year’s premium list, issued under a longer name: the Hot Springs County Fair and Harvest Home Festival. On July 27, 2026, during fair week, the Hot Springs County Museum posted the 1924 advertisement with a caption: “Still going strong 102 years later!”