Twin Falls County Fair

The gates on Fair Avenue in Filer open at seven in the morning, and by eight the horses are working in Zebarth Arena for the 4-H and FFA shows. Through the 2026 fair, which ran September 2 through 7 under the theme “Stars, Stripes, & Stampedes,” the show rings filled in turn: steers in the Southwick Show Ring, swine in the Quesnell ring, market lambs and goats in the McCoy ring, dairy heifers in the dairy ring, rabbits and poultry in their barns. Pee wee classes followed the older exhibitors. The schedule also carried an Inclusive Swine Show, a 4-H miniature horse show, the Jeri Cox Ewe Lead Line, and a dog show on the grass behind the premiums office. On the last morning the Market Animal Sale opened in the Fizz Farm Sale Barn, and antique tractors pulled in Zebarth Arena.

Pig races and the Kitchen & Pantry Building

Away from the barns, the Twin Falls County Farm Bureau Ag Pavilion holds agricultural displays and a potato race, with Jeremy the Balloon Guy on hand. The Magic Valley Railroaders run a model railroad display in a building of its own. The Home Arts Building takes demonstrations in rotation: airplane modelers, quilters, decorative artists, ceramicists, mandala painters. An Artist Paint Off runs in the Art Building. In the Kitchen & Pantry Building the contest changes from day to day. The 2026 list ran to pie, savory nachos, banana bread, sweet empanadas, Rudy’s Russian Napoleon Cake Bake, and a Chocolate Extravaganza.

Aces Pig Races go off several times a day beside the ICCU Community Stage. The 2026 stage bill included Avery Soloaga, the Bret Reid Band, the June Bugs Band, Trinity’s guitar students, goat yoga, Hayloft Hall dancing, and a Cowboy Church service. The grounds also hold a petting zoo, a carnival, merchant buildings and food booths, and a fair royalty competition.

All of it is the work of the Twin Falls County Fair Board, whose mission statement puts its “emphasis on youth and agriculture.” Lani Schofield chaired the 2026 board, with Greg Lanting as vice-chairman. Jerre Christophersen of Buhl served many years on that board and became fair manager early in 2026. Melanie Lunney is fair secretary.

Three nights in Shouse Arena

The evenings belong to Shouse Arena, the fair’s main arena. The 2026 fair opened there on Wednesday with a Junior Rodeo, free with gate admission. The Magic Valley Stampede, a PRCA rodeo, followed on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30. Before each performance, volunteers gather at the north tip of the arena to carry in a giant flag, a presentation the program credits to the Magic Valley 9/11 Memorial. Small children then ride sheep in “Primetime Mutton Bustin’.” Saturday morning brought free rodeo slack, extra event time for contestants, and a ticketed Chicks N Chaps. Jo Dee Messina, with John Morgan, played the arena on Sunday night. On Monday, a monster truck pit party opened at 2:30, and the Monster Truck Insanity show started at four. The Fair Board’s program calls the Stampede one of Idaho’s longest-continuous rodeos.

The stock came from Sankey Pro Rodeo & Phenom Genetics. By the program’s account, Ike Sankey began his rodeo career in 1969 and became a stock contractor alongside his father, Bud, in 1978. The string includes The Black Tie, the 2022 PRCA Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year, and Magic Touch, the 2025 PRCA Bull of the Year. The same program profiles announcer Will Rasmussen. His career began in 1981, when his father, Stan, had two rodeos booked on the same weekend and sent Will to Gardiner, Montana, to call one of them.

The 2026 saddle bronc title went to Mitch Pollock of Twin Falls, who scored 89 points aboard 7 of Spades. Leighton Berry and R.C. Landingham each scored 89 on Land Of Fancy and shared the bareback championship. In bull riding only six cowboys made qualified rides, and Jeter Lawrence led them with 88 points on Back In Black. Ty Erickson and Ben Mitchell tied in steer wrestling at 3.6 seconds. Brye Crites and Ross Ashford won team roping in 4.3, and Ty Harris won tie-down roping in 7.5. Tricia Aldridge won the barrels in 16.80, with the top five finishers within .24 seconds of one another. Hali Williams stopped the breakaway roping clock at 1.7 seconds.

The Filer Boosters’ fair of 1916

The first fair on these grounds ran September 20 to 23, 1916, under the name Southern Idaho Fair. The Filer Journal of September 21 reported the opening:

“Under the clearest skies opened the first annual meeting of the Southern Idaho Fair Wednesday morning. With everything working like clockwork, the gates were thrown open and from an early hour it could be predicted that the Twin Falls County Fair was going to be the success as the little handful of Filer Boosters had predicted.” The County Commissioners had lent their aid, the paper said. “All the many horse and stock stalls were taken the morning of the first day,” and the exhibit buildings “also rapidly filled.”

A wooden grandstand went up in 1916. According to Filer historian Peggy Cristobal, it was rebuilt after a windstorm blew it over into the racetrack in the 1920s. Horse races drew crowds for a time, then gave way to rodeo in the 1930s, and the grandstands were enlarged as the rodeo craze grew. The fair marked its centennial in 2016. For that occasion its foundation, through Dean Kohntopp, collected old photographs for a book. The fair’s own history page dates the adoption of the name Twin Falls County Fair to 2018.

The night of November 6, 1969

A 1955 photograph shows the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse in front of the old grandstand. That grandstand burned on the night of November 6, 1969. Mychel Matthews told the story in a Times-News column of November 2015.

Tom Shouse, the fair manager, lived on the fairgrounds and saw flames from his home. He knew at once the stands were doomed. “It looked like gasoline was poured throughout the grandstands,” he told the Times-News. “The whole place was in flames before I could get back in the house and call for help.” The fire began at the main entrance and swept north and south. People saw it in the night sky as far away as Kimberly and Hansen.

About 2,000 people came to watch, and some helped firefighters keep the flames off nearby buildings. The county had $200,000 worth of voting machines stored 200 yards away. Live wires hung from the light poles until Idaho Power Co. cut the current. In the end, the grandstands and several horse and bull pens were gutted.

“We had nothing in those grandstands that would cause a fire like this. No paint, no nothing,” Shouse said. He suspected arson. A deputy agreed, noting that a fire had been reported about 45 minutes earlier in a shed behind Allison Feed Mills on Front Street in Filer. A Castleford man was suspected of setting the grandstand fire and was arrested for numerous others. “It was a calamity,” Cristobal said. The Shouse Arena is named for the longtime manager.