Certain words come to mind when you hear the phrase “county fair.” Words like carnival, rodeo, blue ribbon, 4-H, and if you’ve ever been to the Western Montana Fair in Missoula, Viking and Lemondairy. For the last several years, the hardworking team behind the Missoula County Fairgrounds has made it their mission to add another word to that list—community.
“The vision of community connection is at the heart of all of our decisions here,” says Billie Brown, events and operations manager at the fairgrounds. “The fairgrounds is one of those last places in our nation where people from diverse and different backgrounds can come together in a common space to remember that they have way more in common than they do differences.”
The origins of the Missoula County Fairgrounds date back to 1874 when the Western Montana Agricultural, Mechanical and Mineral Association, Inc. was incorporated at the County Courthouse. Over the years, the site for the fairgrounds shifted before landing in the current location in the center of town in 1913.
This midtown location has done its part toward facilitating that sense of community. Billie says, “We see a lot of fairgrounds that have to convince people to rent the facility because you have to drive to a location 20 minutes out of town. We're in the center of town, so it was great foresight on the part of the County Commissioners that the fairgrounds stayed here.”
Today, the fairgrounds has grown to 46 acres, featuring the Glacier Ice Rink, the Rocky Mountain Gardens, the Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium, a walking trail, the new Clouse Bauer Arena, and several buildings available for public use. “When you look at other fairgrounds, they're locked down behind fences and barbed wire,” says Billie. “We don't do that. We welcome the public to use this space.”
Jacey Grange is the events and recreation specialist for the fairgrounds. She says, “Out of 365 days, we only have 82 days that something isn’t booked here. Any public events get priority, and we always pencil in the staple events like the Little Red Truck Market and the Five Valley Kennel Club Dog Show. We've also been getting larger events recently.” Examples include the Zootown Music Festival in July and the Missoula Renaissance Festival in September.
Of course, the Western Montana Fair continues to be the most notable and best attended event. This year’s fair will be held August 5 through August 10 with the theme of “Lake Bottom Bash,” giving a nod to Missoula’s Glacial Lake past. Billie and Jacey along with Tenzin Lhaze, the communications and graphic design specialist, take great steps to make sure the community connection component continues throughout this annual event.
One of their biggest goals in continuing that connection has been to make the fair financially accessible to anyone who wishes to come. A huge step was taken towards that goal with the elimination of gate fees in 2019. “We want families to be able to come to the fair for free,” says Tenzin. “You can even bring your own food and non-alcoholic drinks if you want. We also have great community initiatives like Bike To The Fair Friday where we partner with Missoula In Motion so the first 250 people that bike to the fair Friday get food bucks.”
If you do decide to purchase food at the fair, it will cost you, but know that even through the simple act of savoring a Tater Pig or an Indian Taco, the community still benefits. There are around eight local non-profits that have permanent kitchens at the fairgrounds, like All Nations Health Center and Sweet Adelines. “For many local organizations, the fair is their main fundraiser and we don’t want to take that away,” says Jacey. “We prioritize local vendors and look at things like how long they have participated in the fair. For example, we're always going to have Lemondairy and Vikings. That's iconic and something you can only get once or twice a year. But we also focus on new vendors to help them make a name for themselves.”
Fairgoers will still have to pay for the carnival rides, but the success of the fair in the community plays a big part in the quality of the company that operates the rides. Billie says, “The thing about the carnival world is they select you, so you need to prove that you can bring the people in to make it worth their while. As long as we're successful, we're always going to have the best carnival.”
The team works to benefit and lend a helping hand to community organizations at the fair in a variety of other ways. Tables will be available on the first floor of the commercial building every day where local non-profits can put on a free activity for fairgoers in return for free booth space to help get their name out.
Another great success for the team has been their efforts to cut down trash headed for the landfill that inevitably piles up on days when the fair is packed with people. Tenzin says, “Last year our Green Team was able to divert 82% of fair waste from the landfill, which amounts to around 73% compost and 9% recycling. We recognize that we could not have done this without our partners like Home ReSource, Missoula Compost, our partners over at the extension building, our vendors, as well the community.”
If you’re looking forward to the arena events at the Western Montana Fair this year you will not be disappointed. Adrenaline-filled favorites such as bull riding, bronc busting, mutton busting, and the Lords of Dirt motorcycle racing return as well as some new exciting events all held in the Clouse Bauer Arena. Billie is especially thrilled to see horses return to the fairgrounds for a series of free activities held Tuesday through Saturday during the fair which highlight the connections between human and horses. “We're going to open up a whole slew of ideas on how horses and humans can work together through horse interactions and performances,” she says.
With the Western Montana Fair and the slew of annual public activities and events, Billie, Jacey, Tenzin, and the entire team at the Missoula County Fairgrounds hopes to continue to steer it towards being a community hub. “We have to ask ourselves, is the fairgrounds going to make money, or is it going to connect people? We decided connecting people is our priority, knowing that the money piece will eventually fall into place,” says Billie. “We like to call what we do ‘edutainment.’ We combine education with entertainment to bring the community together.”
Missoula County Fairgrounds Summer Schedule
Friday, July 4 & 5 - Zootown Music Festival
Two full days of music and adventure featuring Hozier on July 4 and Kacey Musgraves on July 5 with several other performers on both days.
July 14 through August 4 - Pre-Fair Events
Enjoy a spread of 4-H shows including archery, air rifle, dog, horse, and shotgun competition.
Tuesday, August 5 through August 10 - Western Montana Fair
Market and livestock shows, rodeo, and rides! A full schedule with details and timing is available at MissoulaFairgrounds.com.