Greater Grand Forks Fair returns this week after one-year hiatus
Jun. 22—The gates to the Greater Grand Forks Fair will open Wednesday, June 23, ushering in several days of family events.
This is the 36th year the county fair has been held in Grand Forks, since its revival in 1985 after a hiatus of several years. Meanwhile, there was no fair in 2020 because of concerns about spreading COVID-19.
Most years, except for a few in the early 2000s when the fair was held at Alerus Center, it has been located at the Grand Forks County Fairgrounds at 2300 Gateway Drive.
The 2021 Greater Grand Forks Fair will feature events that include 4-H exhibits and competition, grandstand acts and Crabtree Amusements, a Texas-based carnival company, which also will be at the Red River Valley Fair in Fargo and the North Dakota State Fair in Minot in July.
About 60 boys and girls from seven 4-H Grand Forks County 4-H clubs will exhibit their projects and compete for ribbons during the fair. Projects in the "static" category will include baking, photography and woodworking, said MaKayla Fleming, Grand Forks County Extension 4-H agent. Livestock entries will be made up of poultry, goats, beef, swine, alpacas, rabbits and poultry. There also will be a 4-H dog show and a horse show.
A new Grand Forks event this year will be 3 Ring Super Circus, said Jeanie Berns, Grand Forks County Fair manager.
"They will have acrobats, knife throwers, comedy sketches and a wheel of death," Burns said. The 30-minute performance, which will be repeated throughout the fair, is free and on green space on the fairgrounds. Another free event is the Extreme Raptors Show, featuring birds of prey. Swifty Swine Pig Races will be back again this year, as will nightly entertainment in the grandstand.
Racing will be held on Friday and Sunday at the grandstand. Friday night at 7 will be NOSA sprint cars, street stocks, and a Midwest Mods Special. On Sunday at 5 p.m., NLRA late models, lightning sprints and a Midwest Mod Special will be featured.
On Saturday, the ATV Big Air Tour will be at the 7 p.m. grandstand show. The Guetter Brothers began the nationwide tour, which now features 14 scenes, including big jumps, balance acts and crowd games, in 2014.
Bands will play four nights at the fair. The musical entertainment will kick off at 8 p.m. Wednesday, with IV Play in the beer garden; the Johnny Holm Band will be at 8 p.m. Thursday under the Big Top; Diamonds and Whiskey is scheduled at 9 p.m. Friday in the beer garden; and All Jacked Up will be featured at 9 p.m. Saturday under the Big Top.
It wouldn't be a fair without food, and this year there will be about a dozen vendors with a variety of food from Philippine cuisine to corndogs, Berns said.
"That's the nice thing. We have a little bit of everything," she said.
Gate admission to the fair is $7 per person for ages 14 and older and $5 per person, for ages 6-13. The gate fee includes admission to all fair activities except food and carnival rides.
The hours the fair gates will be open varies by day, and are available online at the Grand Forks County Fair website at: https://www.grandforksfair.com/p/getinvolved/daily-fair-schedule
