Southwest Washington Fair

On Monday, August 10, 2026, the day before the gates opened, Tyler Carter posed at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds with two pigs named Poached and Scrambled. Exhibitors led hogs into the hog barn for weigh-ins. JD Weiler of Alpha Better Bets 4-H washed his cow, and so did Samantha Triplett of Willapa Valley FFA. In the horse barn, Guido, Bubba, and Pepper looked out over their stall doors while Pete took a drink, and the 4-H Clothing Room stood ready down the way. Through the week that followed, 4-H and FFA cattle, hogs, and horses were judged in the barns off South Gold Street in Centralia, Lewis County.

Rodeo nights and a living logo

The 2026 fair ran from Tuesday, August 11, through Sunday, August 16, under the theme “Ride Into History – America’s 250th Year.” The gates opened at 10 a.m. on the first day. The Lewis County Rodeo filled the nights of August 12 and 13, with mutton-busting for children who ride sheep and the presentation of a new Lewis County Rodeo Royalty Court, a two-night format first set in 2025. A new act, FMX Ramp-Age, brought freestyle motocross riders to the grandstands on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, with the champion Adam Jones among them. Every day except Saturday carried a name and a half-price ticket: Trailblazer Tuesday for children, Senior Day on Wednesday for residents 65 and up, Timberland Bank Day for Grange members on Thursday, Military Day on Friday, and Family Day, hosted by KACS, on Sunday.

At 6 p.m. on opening day, at the Saloon Stage, a child was caped as Little Miss Friendly. The Chronicle calls her the “living logo” of the fair, which bills itself as “Your friendly fair with fun for all!” Judges chosen by the Centralia-Chehalis Kiwanis Club picked five finalists for 2026: Blakely Becker, 10, of Napavine; Avery Butler, 10, of Chehalis; Reagan Juarez, 8, of Oakville; Aspyn Kerlee, 8, of Adna; and Lux Longabaugh, 8, of Centralia. Kimber Serl held the title the year before. Natalie Butler held it in 2019. The caping has taken place every year since 1968.

Counts of the crowd differ. The fair’s own history page gives more than 65,000 visitors over the six-day run, as did State Representative Peter Abbarno in 2026. The Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce in 2025, and Abbarno himself in 2019, put the figure above 70,000.

Seventy-eight acres between Centralia and Chehalis

The grounds cover 78 acres off the I-5 corridor between Seattle and Portland. They hold more than 100,000 square feet of multi-use buildings, among them the Blue Pavilion, the Expo Hall, the Community Events Building, the 4-H Building, the Beef Barn, the 4-H Barn, and the Old Judging Pavilion. There are historic grandstands, two outdoor stages (the Saloon Stage and the Community Stage), and large parking and camping areas, with camping open during fair week.

Abbarno wrote in August 2026 that recent state capital money had paid for major restorations to the 4-H Barn, roof replacements, water lines, and the start of planning for new equestrian facilities. The grounds also serve the county for emergency response.

The fairgrounds stay open the year round. Between fairs the buildings host the Washington State Garlic Festival, a Fourth of July Summerfest, a Spring Youth Fair, the Barn Bash, Country Chicks Markets, the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, rabbit and cavy shows, dog and cat shows, and PNW Barn Hunt. Spring and fall bring garage sales and swap meets, the fall one set for 8 a.m. on Saturday, October 10, 2026. The fair’s site lists the next fair for August 17 through 22, 2027, its theme still to be chosen from suggestions sent in by the public.

“The advancement of agriculture”

The fair’s history page, reprinted from The Chronicle, traces the event to 1877. That year an association formed in Lewis County to promote “the advancement of agriculture,” its members needing “the stimulus of friendly competition to advance them beyond the first rudiments of agriculture which are generally found in a new country.” The same page notes that a fair held in 1877 stood near the site of today’s Fuller’s Market Basket in Chehalis. In November 1882 the group incorporated as the Lewis County Agricultural Association.

Accounts of the association’s first fair differ on where it was held. The fair’s history dates it October 6 to 9, 1891, at the site of today’s fair. Cynthia Mudge, writing for the Chamber in 2025, places the October 6, 1891, opening near the present site of Ace Hardware in Chehalis. HistoryLink records only that the first celebration came in October 1891.

In the early 1900s, two horsemen began pressing for something larger. E.C. Truesdell was a harness racing enthusiast, and George Walker of Chehalis bred racehorses. The fair’s history says they and others who shared the idea were close friends of Governor Roland Hartley, himself a harness racing fan. They made many trips to the Legislature in Olympia to ask for money. The fair’s history dates the appropriation to 1908. Abbarno’s 2026 account dates to 1909 the legislation that created the Southwest Washington Fair Commission and funded a fairground. The Legislature set conditions. The fair had to stand between Chehalis and Centralia, and it had to serve Lewis, Thurston, Mason, Grays Harbor, Cowlitz, and Pacific counties. About 30 acres were bought from one of the county commissioners at a reported $200 an acre.

Five days of downpour

Builders put up floral and machinery halls, four stables with eighty stalls, a cattle barn for 400 head, and a grandstand seating 4,000. Steady rain slowed the work. The grandstand and a half-mile racetrack were finished in time for the first fair at the new site, in late September 1909, and that fair ran through five days of continuous downpour.

Within a few years the oval had a name as the finest harness horse track in the region, and racing stables up and down the West Coast sent trotters and pacers to it. Competition in the livestock barns spurred the breeding of fine cattle, and Lewis County and its neighbors became a source of dairy and beef breeding stock. Farm exhibits filled a building just north of the present grandstand, where Grange booths stand now. “During the early days, a special trolley ran between Chehalis and Centralia bringing people to the fair,” said Edna Fund, a local historian. Walker managed the fair from 1909 until 1927 and is credited with its early growth.

A state law traced to 1913 put the association’s property under Lewis County. The current statute, RCW 36.90.010, places the buildings under the board of county commissioners or its designee “for fair and county purposes.” Fund puts the result plainly: “So by law it will take place each year.”

The fair’s list of themes begins in 1937 with “Lewis County Fair,” and the regional name appears in 1941. “Five Big Days and Nites” served for most of the late 1950s, and “The Timber Empire” served in 1965. Many years are marked unknown, with a note asking anyone who remembers to call the office. On October 6, 1975, John Martin, city editor of The Daily Chronicle, wrote, “The most colorful event of the year in this region is the Southwest Washington Fair.” That spring the county had bought another 30 acres for $380,000. The 1976 fair was the “Bicentennial Bonanza,” and 1992 was “Go Struttin’ with the Mutton.” The 110th year, 2019, was “Happy as a Hen: Come Celebrate 110!” The 2020 fair, planned as “Red, White, and Moo,” was canceled because of COVID, and the theme returned in 2024 for the 115th year.

Fund served four years on the fair advisory board after a term as a Lewis County commissioner. She has entered floral displays for more than 30 years. Her mother, June Gorter, entered her hydrangeas until her death. “She is distinguished as being the oldest flower vendor at 99,” Fund said.