San Juan County Fair

The San Juan County Fair begins in mud. On Saturday, August 1, 2026, the first day of an eight-day fair, the Down n Dirty Mud Bog ran at the fairgrounds on East Center Street in Monticello, with vehicles registering and taking their runs through the mud. That morning the fair’s page counted down: “We are 30 minutes from Mud Boggin time!!!!” On Tuesday evening teams went into the mud on foot for the volleyball tournament, which is free to play and free to watch. Every place was taken by July 30. On the afternoon of the games, organizers asked any registered team that could not come to text in so a team from the waiting list could take its place.

Grass, mud, and the fair building

The theme for 2026 was “Country Kicks in ‘26.” The grounds hold a 600-seat rodeo arena, a 95-by-65-foot exhibit hall, a 35-by-40-foot insulated steel building, a 30-by-60-foot covered pavilion, and a snack bar and concession stand. On Monday night a movie is shown outdoors on the grass, and families bring blankets and chairs. The 2026 film was the animated Jungle Book. In 2024 the Monday program began with a Navajo taco dinner sold by the Monticello High School wrestlers as a fundraiser. Free Minute-to-Win-It games with cash prizes followed, and then a 9 p.m. screening on a giant screen.

Before the fair the organizers urged residents to bring in their hand-crafted items “and show them off and win a ribbon.” Quilting, baking, flowers, and small animals fill the fair building. The building closes on Wednesday for judging. It opens to the public on Thursday at 9 a.m. and stays open through Saturday afternoon, when entries go back to their makers between 3 and 5 p.m.

The livestock week runs alongside. On Wednesday, August 5, 2026, the lamb and goat junior weigh-in ran from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by 4-H rabbit and poultry showmanship at 2:30. Goat roping came at 5 p.m. and the Farm Bureau Talent Find at 7. Thursday morning brought the mini livestock showmanship class, the mini livestock market show, and the junior showmanship classes. In the afternoon the Page Party Inflatables went up, free to the public, and a children’s fair set up on the grass with small crafts. Some crafts carried a fee, and other activities were free for children 12 and under.

Lonestar on Thursday, cowboy games on Friday

At 5:30 on Thursday the fairgrounds are cleared, and the gates reopen at 6 for the one ticketed concert of the week. In 2026 it was Lonestar at 7:30 p.m., with Dzaki Sukarno opening. The San Juan Record’s news director, David Boyle, noted that the band had played together for 30 years and scored ten #1 singles. Among them was “Amazed,” which held #1 for nine weeks and also climbed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Tickets were sold at Mountainland Supply in Monticello, RelaDyne in Blanding, and Wilson Monuments in Cortez, and all seating was general admission. The 2024 headliner was Chris Cagle, with Crazy Coyote opening.

Friday, August 7, opened with market livestock shows at 9 a.m. and student judging in the show ring at 1 p.m. From 2:30 to 5, family fun games handed out tickets for the Honey Money Roll for Cash, and the junior livestock awards came at 5. At 6 p.m. the All-Night Softball Tournament started at the Monticello ball fields; the 2024 notice said it went “late into the night.” At 7, local cowboys and cowgirls met in the arena for the cowboy games, which include the rescue race and the hide race. There is no entry fee, and the winners take prizes.

The last day starts at 7 a.m. with a breakfast for livestock buyers. The junior and mini livestock auction followed at 10 in 2026. The fair closes that evening with the Blue Mountain Youth Rodeo, free to watch, with pole bending, barrel racing, team roping, and riding on stock “from mutton all the way up to bulls.” The 2024 program listed the age brackets: Mutton Bustin’ for children 4 to 6, calf riding for 7 to 10, steer riding for 11 to 14, and team roping for 12 to 18.

Royalty, volunteers, and the Babylon fire

The 2026 Fair Royalty were Miss San Juan County Madison Adair and her attendant, Samantha McDonald. Blue Mountain Rodeo Queen Brinkley Knight was attended by Lucy Black. Rodeo Princess Austyn Monson had three attendants: Janaley Johnson, Paisley Monson, and Jade Hoggard. The royalty helped run events through the week. On July 25 the fair’s people appeared at a parade and afterward offered two concert tickets for the best photograph of them. On July 28 members of the Monticello High School football team came to work at the fairgrounds.

The day after the 2026 fair closed, a thank-you appeared on the fair’s page, written in the first person by someone who had, in the post’s words, “put my whole heart into this for 26 years.” It thanked volunteers, staff, the royalty, exhibitors, and the county commissioners. It also thanked those who had fought the Babylon fire: “Because of you, we were able to gather, celebrate, and carry on something that means so much to our communities.” The post described the fair as “a reflection of who we are: resilient, hardworking, and deeply connected.”

A committee of eight, 1949

The San Juan Record reported on July 28, 1949, that a committee of eight had been appointed to sponsor and arrange a county fair that year. Leonard J. Bartell headed it, and each member took a department:

• Mrs. L. J. Bartell: canning, baking, and clothing.
• Pearl Butt: the coronation and program.
• Mabel W. Hurst: flowers and needlecraft.
• E. O. Biggs: the boys’ 4-H exhibits.
• Thelma Walton: secretary, the girls’ 4-H exhibits, and finding judges.
• Platte Lyman: publicity.
• Zenos Black: housing and entertainment.

Lona Hurst was expected to be asked to take charge of hobbies, and Ward Clark to help with agricultural items. The schedule was set with the state fair in mind. Junior exhibitors aged 10 to 17 whose entries won blue ribbons would be sent to Salt Lake with their expenses paid.

By August 18 the fair was fixed for September 9 and 10 in the Monticello High School building, a week ahead of the state fair. The paper called it the first county fair to be held in San Juan “in a number of years.” Mrs. Rhea H. Gardner, a home demonstration specialist with the extension service, would judge the 4-H girls’ demonstrations, and Glen Baird the agricultural exhibits. The Record argued for the event in an August front-page story: “no one has a monopoly of all the best methods or practices in any field.”

The program for Saturday, September 10, 1949, was a ball game at 1 p.m. and 4-H demonstrations from 2 to 3. The exhibit booths stayed open until 5, and at 8 came a program of stage dancing and music, followed by a dance. Displays covered the county’s irrigated and dry-land crops, domestic arts, and the area’s mineral ores.

Safflower from Dove Creek

The Record’s report on September 15, 1949, was headed “San Juan County Fair Exceeds Expectations.” Large crowds had come, and “for the first attempt at a thing of this sort results were far above expectations.” Only two or three merchants had set up commercial exhibits. The dry-farm tables held fruit and garden vegetables, which the paper took as proof that farms far from irrigation projects need not go without garden truck. The craft departments drew special mention for their fancy work. Mabel W. Hurst of Blanding had worked on the committee for a time but resigned before the fair because of other duties.

One exhibitor came from outside the county. Otto Anderson, who lived about two miles north of Dove Creek, brought educational displays that included safflower. The paper explained that safflower belongs to the thistle family and can be pressed into high-protein concentrates similar to linseed cake. Anderson had been growing it for about two years and was enthusiastic about it as a crop for San Juan.

By 1951 the fair had moved to August 31 and September 1, with 4-H demonstrations and a “Gay ‘49ers” theme for the Saturday program.

The livestock auction on the final morning reaches back to Jess Grover, who began teaching agriculture at San Juan High in Blanding in 1940. Grover persuaded the school district to restart FFA. In 1972 he worked with the San Juan Extension Service to set up the Junior Livestock program. Writing in the Record in 2024, Janet Wilcox credited him directly: “The San Juan County Fair and FFA are now a permanent part of county history, thanks to the efforts of Jess Grover.”