Lincoln County Fair

At eight on the last Saturday morning of the Lincoln County Fair, buyers sit down to breakfast on the grounds at 144 Washington Street in Afton. At ten the 4-H and FFA Junior Livestock Sale begins, and the animals the county’s young exhibitors have shown all week are taken to it. In 2026 that Saturday was August 8, the ninth and final day of a fair that opened July 31. The Lincoln County Fair Board runs it under a short motto, “Fun Everywhere For Everyone.”

Nine days on Washington Street

The barns set the pace. In 2026 exhibitors had their livestock in place by three on Monday afternoon, weighed in at four, and checked in poultry and rabbits into the evening. The swine show opened Tuesday at eight. The rabbit show followed at nine, poultry after that, and the dairy goats at three. Wednesday brought an open horse show, swine showmanship, and the beef market and breeding classes. Thursday began with goats and then sheep, followed by 4-H livestock judging and a round robin at four. On Friday morning the open horse show held ranch sorting at nine. From one to three that afternoon the fair invited visitors to meet the 4-H kids and their animals.

Away from the barns, the day runs on the schedules of two tents, the Big Top and the Tiny Top on the west grounds. Acts change on the hour. The 2026 bill carried country and western sets from Vanessa Carpenter and Makayla Renee and acoustic music from Pick & Hammer. Meredith Guy, a country musician from Louisiana, played the Tiny Top at 12:30 and the Big Top at three on the opening days. Just Khakis played soul and pop. Other acts included John Cassidy’s comedy magic, Lasting Impressions with Mike Walker, the hypnotist Richard Barker, and Tap Classics. Jeremiah Johnston worked his Throw Zone by day and gave a nighttime strolling routine at 8:45. The Canine Stars Stunt Dog Show ran three times daily on the west grounds. Rich & Joanie played afternoon music and hosted karaoke under the Big Top from seven to ten.

Children went to Curly’s Funtastic KidZone, which was free, for train rides and to watch Heather Pearl on stilts at one, three, and five. The carnival midway opened at two on most days and ran from noon to midnight at the end of the week. Commercial vendors sell the food. On Thursday, family night, they offered one-night deals on food, treats, games, and merchandise. The community booths, which the board member Nancy Stafford oversees, display what people from around the county make.

Evenings belong to the Main Arena. Monday night was pig wrestling, and the fair told spectators to “grab your friends, bring your check book, participate in the Calcutta, and cheer on your favorite team.” On Tuesday the horse pulls returned, a tradition by the fair’s own account. On Wednesday came freestyle reining, with riders and horses performing routines set to music.

Three nights of PRCA rodeo and a parade north on Main

From Thursday through Saturday the PRCA rodeo began at seven in the Main Arena and grandstands. The 2026 card listed bronc riding, bull riding, barrel racing, team roping, steer wrestling, and tie-down roping. Summit Pro Rodeo supplied stock. After the first performance the rider Kashton Wayne Ford posted that his 84.5 on Firefly had him “leading it.” By the close, the rodeo filmmaker Slickfork Films reported an 87 on Battle Mountain for the win and a 3.5-second run as the fastest time of the rodeo. “Huge crowd, great stock and a lot of talented cowboys and cowgirls this year!” the same account wrote.

On Friday at four the fair parade traveled north on Main Street through downtown Afton, and the fair asked spectators to keep out of the center of the street. Floats competed for a cash prize as fan favorite, and spectators voted online until six that evening. Immediately after the parade, the Lincoln County Rodeo Royalty signed autographs behind the main grandstands.

A fairground on the south side of town

Lincoln County was created in 1911. The Star Valley Historical Society’s timeline records the first Lincoln County Fair at the fairgrounds in Afton in 1913, the same year Welch Hall and the Globe Theater, Afton’s first, went up. In 1917 the Town of Afton bought the fairgrounds from the county. The society’s Afton Heritage Hall of Fame notes that William Henry Kennington Sr. (1842–1914) homesteaded a large piece of Afton land, a portion of which was the former fairgrounds.

The Hall of Fame names others who ran the fair. Dr. George Washington West came to the valley in 1904, delivered more than 4,000 babies, and sat on the Lincoln County Fair Board. G.W. (Con) Yeaman served as fair president. C. S. Wray chaired the board for five years. Erastus Francis Winters organized the fair as county agent and supervised the 4-H program. Alda Fugal Gardner chaired the Afton First Ward’s booth.

The Star Valley Independent of August 1, 1963, sold for ten cents and laid out a three-day fair, August 15 through 17. Harold Papworth was board president and Elmo Rich was fair manager. Community booths competed in three divisions, based on population and other factors, “with the usual generous prizes being offered.” The horse show, run by superintendent Keith Wray, carried approval from the American Quarter Horse Association and the National Cutting Horse Association. Horse races ran Friday and Saturday afternoons on a new straightaway track that, the paper said, “provides better racing facilities than in past years.” A six-event rodeo ran under lights at eight on Friday and Saturday: girls’ barrel racing, saddle bronc riding, bareback bronc riding, calf roping, bulldogging, and Brahma bull riding. Northern United Shows set up the carnival. The Afton Chamber of Commerce sponsored a noon parade on Saturday, in which queen candidates from the county’s communities competed for the title “Miss Lincoln County,” to reign over the fair.

Dan Dockstader and his wife, Kim, have owned the Star Valley Independent for more than 40 years. In a column of August 8, 2026, he recalled taking his children to the fair “when it was located on the south side of Afton in an area now filled with commercial businesses and offices.” The fair was smaller then, in size and in length. Community displays filled a little wooden building, and the livestock area was smaller. Meals came from stands run by the county’s towns. “Seems like Freedom and Bedford always did a good job and there was always a nice selection of home made pies from the talented family kitchens,” he wrote. Since then, he observed, the dairy cattle have left the show, the carnival has doubled, commercial vendors have replaced the town stands, and visiting performers have replaced local talent. In 2026 he and his wife brought some of those same children, now with spouses and children of their own. “We came with the next generation.”

Rodeo queens since 1965

The Lincoln County Fair Rodeo Royalty marked its 60th year in 2025. The program is led by Cassie Jenkins, the 1987 Rodeo Queen, who that summer was in her tenth year with the royalty. Three of her daughters have held the title of Lincoln County Rodeo Queen. The 2025 court was Queen Ella Cranney, first attendant Clanci Osmond, Jr. Princess Avery Green, and Jr. Princess first attendant Scarlet Wagner. They met weekly through the summer to work on their flag presentation, which they rode at the PRCA performances. “Having the opportunity to carry the American flag on horseback is definitely one of the highlights of their summer!” Jenkins said.

The first queen, in 1965, was Lynette Olsen. She recalled a “very simple” contest at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds, with 8 to 10 girls trying out for one title. Contestants rode a pattern carrying a flag and answered questions in the arena on horse anatomy. The Star Valley Independent’s 2025 account says winners received a fabric ribbon sash. Olsen remembered a gold ring with her birthstone, a crown, and a sash, and said hers was the first year of serape blankets. Her attendants were Barbara Kennington and Teddy Frome Goulding. The queen rode in the fair parade and rodeo and traveled to Montpelier, Idaho, to represent the county at its rodeo. Archie Hale ran the contest. “Archie was an old bachelor who loved horses and kids,” Olsen said. “He taught a youth riding club and we performed routines at the Rodeo’s every year!”