Lincoln County Fair

On July 4, 2026, flags whipped in the wind over the arena at the Lincoln County Commons in Newport, and hooves kicked dust toward the bleachers. The Lincoln Chronicle reported that Jerry Morell of McMinnville pressed his face between the bars of a fence to watch a cowgirl race between barrels. Over the crowd and across several blocks of Newport’s neighborhoods, the announcer called out, “Get ready, get loud and get proud for 250 years.” Morell and his wife, Kyla, wore matching T-shirts marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “There are still places where we can shake hands and drink a beer,” Kyla Morell told the paper. Stacey Williams, a county resident at the fair with her family, saw the day differently: “I’ll celebrate 251 if we are able to fix our problems.”

That Saturday show was the second of two. Lincoln County Pro Rodeo, an NPRA-sanctioned event, ran on Friday, July 3, at 6 p.m. and on Saturday, July 4, at 1 p.m. Tickets were sold online, and also at the gate starting one hour before each performance.

Three days on Third Street

The fair takes up the first days of July at the Commons, the former Lincoln County Fairgrounds at 633 NE Third Street. The 2026 fair ran July 2 through 4, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day, and its website greeted visitors with “Happy 250th Birthday America!” The home page advertised free admission for all three days. The printed schedule credited Saturday’s free gate to the title sponsor, Samaritan Health Services.

Music played on the Main Stage from midday into the evening. On Thursday, Whole Lotta Louis played from 1 to 4 p.m. and Cherry Ash from 6 to 9. On Friday, Hecktic Week opened the late morning, Ska Island took the middle of the afternoon, and River Divide played from 7:30 to 9:30. Saturday brought Beth Willis, then Huckle Buck Highway, then Strawberry Roan, who played until 9:30. A carnival midway ran all three days, and an OMSI interactive science display stayed open from opening to close.

Camels by the 4-H barn

Camel rides went on all day near the 4-H barn. At 3 p.m. on Friday, the 4-H market livestock auction was held. In 2022 the Newport News Times reported that 4-H participants are the most frequent regular users of the grounds. The barn they use, called the Floral Building, was rebuilt with a $277,000 Business Oregon grant drawn from $10 million in lottery bonds the legislature set aside for fairground projects. The grant paid for a new roof, gutters, downspouts, siding and finished concrete floors, and the Lincoln County Leader dates the renovation to 2023. During evacuations for the 2020 Echo Mountain fire, 4-H kids who already knew the place opened the barn and powered it up to take in horses and other livestock trucked out of the fire zone.

Heather Tower told that story to the county commissioners. Oregon State University Extension manages the fair under a contract with the county. Tower took charge of that work after Todd Williver, who had led it for a decade, moved to the state extension office. A Fair Board, chaired by Colleen Robert, oversees the event itself but has no say over the buildings.

From Toledo to Harney Street

The fair began in 1908, fifteen years after the county was founded, and marked its centennial in 2008. The first fairs were held in Toledo, when that city was the county seat. Robert was told that her great-grandfather helped build the fairgrounds at the present site in Newport. She has no way to verify it. Her family has been in Lincoln County since the late 19th century, though, so she believes it is likely.

The modern history of the grounds turns on 2007 and 2009. In 2007, sixty percent of county voters approved a 3 percent increase in the transient lodging tax, with 40 percent of that money set aside for a new Fair Facilities Improvement Fund. Two years later, the Fair Board resigned en masse, citing lack of funding and diminished community support, and the county commissioners took control. For the next 13 years, Commissioner Claire Hall and two others made up the Fair Board.

A panel, a plan, and a new name

The commissioners appointed a blue-ribbon panel in 2009. Its 2010 report recommended that the fairgrounds be redeveloped as a multi-use venue, hosting other events besides the annual fair and rodeo. A market and feasibility analysis followed in July 2014, the same year the first master plan was adopted. In October 2015 the county adopted a vision and mission statement. Its core values were “to respect traditions of the past and cast new directions for the future with a focus on youth.” It also quoted the state statute that the grounds “be utilized to the fullest extent for pleasure, recreation and public benefit . . . and for the holding of any exhibitions, shows, carnivals, circuses, dances, entertainments or public gatherings.”

In 2016 the county renamed the site the Lincoln County Commons to reflect its use by many groups. That year, voters by the same sixty percent approved another 1 percent lodging tax, all of it for redeveloping the grounds and running the new facilities. Wayne Belmont, a former county counsel, noted that this operating money was relatively unusual among Oregon counties. A Master Plan Visioning Committee held public meetings through 2018, and the board approved a revised plan in February 2019. At approval, its improvements were estimated at $10.2 million. By 2022 the facilities fund held about $5.3 million, and County Administrator Tim Johnson put the whole project at $25 to 30 million. That year the county took Fair Board applications for the first time since 2009, and five new members replaced the three who had served throughout.

Cleared ground at Third and Harney

In March 2026 the Leader reported that most of the old facilities had been demolished the previous spring. The county hired DPM of West Linn to manage the work, and in February 2026 it announced its intent to award the design contract to LRS Architects of Portland. The plan calls for:

• a multipurpose building in place of the Main Exhibit Hall
• a partly covered pavilion in place of the indoor and outdoor arenas
• a relocated livestock barn
• a new stage, outdoor plazas and lawns
• a gateway at the corner of Third and Harney streets

The project is paid for by the two ballot measures and by bonds backed by future lodging tax revenue. “The Master Plan is the document that we are using to move forward with this project,” said Joshua Dodson, DPM’s project manager. He expects the work to be finished by the end of 2027, with parts of it ready for the 2027 fair and rodeo.

“I’m excited to see the process get started, because it’s kind of been at a standstill, and it will be wonderful to see where it goes,” Robert said.