Uinta County Fair

The 2026 Uinta County Fair opened on July 23 with horses. The 4-H/FFA and Open Horse Show filled the first two days on the fairgrounds along Bear River Drive in Evanston. On July 24 the Mini Horse Show followed at the conclusion of the main show. From then until August 1 the fair’s office promised “something happening every single day”: livestock shows, exhibits, fair food, and a run of free entertainment that included face painting, an Adventure Zone for children, caricature artists, and the Mike Mezmer Hypnosis & Magic Show. The days carried names, among them Kids Day, Military Day, and Watermelon Wednesday, and the evenings brought the UC Fair Dances. The 2026 fair ran under the theme “Stars, Stripes & Uinta Nights,” marking America’s 250th anniversary.

Uinta County runs the fair. Its manager is Natalie Cornia, and she works with a Fair Board, a Livestock Sale Committee, superintendents, judges, and volunteers. Even the printed fair book is a local product: an annual contest chooses its cover art, and the 2026 front cover went to Bridgette and Charlotte Anderson, the back to Andrea Osborne.

Derby, trucks, and the Knights of Valour

The ticketed shows are held in the grandstand at 7 p.m. The Demolition Derby came first, on Saturday, July 25. The next morning the fair reported, “We packed the stands last night.” Monster Trucks followed on Sunday, July 26. In 2026 advance seats for either night cost $25 for adults and $15 for children 5 to 17. They were sold at NAPA, Freeway Tire, the fair office, and online, and cost $5 more at the gate.

Medieval jousting closed the grandstand week. The county’s ticket page listed it for Thursday, July 29, under the heading “MID-EVIL JOUSTING.” The fair’s own posts gave July 30 at 7 p.m., with gates at 6. The riders were the Knights of Valour, and the fair announced them this way: “No fake battles. No pool noodles. Just real knights, real horses, real armor.” On July 29 the fair posted that “the JOUSTERS have arrived.” Pre-sale seats were $15 for adults and $10 for children.

Branding, the junior rodeo, and a free breakfast

Not every contest happens under the grandstand lights. On July 28 ranch teams entered the Don Proffit Memorial Team Branding, an annual event with Novice and Open divisions. On July 29 the Jr. Rodeo started at 6 p.m. Its results were posted on the morning of August 1, with thanks to contestants for “hard work and great sportsmanship.”

The livestock sale is the end of the year’s work for young exhibitors. They take part from across the county, and those from the valley picked up their tags at the Lyman Rodeo Grounds concession stands. After the sale, each seller who wants a check must turn in a thank-you card to the buyer, stamped and addressed.

The fair’s last morning began with the free Blue Ribbon Breakfast, served on August 1 until 11:00. Two days later the fair thanked “every family who joined us.” It asked visitors for their photographs of fair week and began talking about 2027.

The fairgrounds and the old highway

Evanston is the county seat of Uinta County. It lies in the Bear River Valley in the southwestern corner of Wyoming. When the Lincoln Highway brought the first transcontinental automobile traffic through downtown, a tourist camp went up on the eastern edge of town, next to the county fairgrounds. Garages, service stations, and later motels followed.

The Depression cut railroad hours and thinned traffic on U.S. Highway 30, the old Lincoln Highway. In 1936 a group of ranchers and business leaders set out to bring visitors back. They launched Evanston’s Cowboy Days, a three-day Labor Day weekend event that ended in a parade and a rodeo at the county fairgrounds. It was a tourism event, separate from the county fair. By the 1950s the rodeo had turned professional and was billed as the “Biggest Little Rodeo in the World.” It drew hundreds of people, many from Utah’s Wasatch Front.

The fair kept its own association. Among its directors was John M. Baxter. He was born in Salt Lake City on June 3, 1859, and came into the Bear River Valley in May 1871 with his mother and uncle to settle at Randolph, Utah. He later served as a bishop and stake president and kept a residence in Evanston. In his memoir he recalled that his uncle’s team of grey horses was so balky the family had to leave the wagon on a downhill slope when unhitching, so that it could be pushed off again in the morning.