Now celebrating its 121st year, the fair traces its roots back to 1905, when farmers gathered in a Calhan schoolyard to celebrate a successful potato harvest
The El Paso County Fair has a little bit of everything.
Need a funnel cake? Done. Want to pet livestock? Easy.
Prefer watching trucks smash into each other until only one is left running?
Oddly enough, they’ve got that too.
For more than a century, the El Paso County Fair has proven that the recipe for a successful summer tradition isn’t that complicated: Mix together livestock, local agriculture, carnival rides, rodeos, live entertainment and a demolition derby.
Then, serve it for eight days in July and the result is one of El Paso County’s longest-running traditions, returning to Calhan July 11-18.
Scenes from the El Paso County Fair in Calhan on Sunday, July 17, 2016. photo by Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette
How it all began: 121 years of tradition
Long before carnival rides, demolition derbies and live concerts, the El Paso County Fair began with something much simpler: potatoes.
Now celebrating its 121st year, the tradition traces its roots back to 1905, when farmers gathered in a Calhan schoolyard to celebrate a successful potato harvest.
Visitors arrived by wagon, horseback and horse-drawn carriages for a community potato and bean bake contest, entertainment and horse races, according to their website.
The celebration proved so popular that organizers brought it back each year, adding agricultural exhibits, home economics displays and the fair’s first rodeo. As attendance grew, so did the fair itself, eventually moving to the El Paso County Fair and Events Center at 366 10th St., its current grounds after outgrowing the schoolyard.
More than a century later, the celebration has evolved into an eight-day event featuring carnival rides, concerts, rodeos and derbies. But at its heart, it’s still a community gathering celebrating the agricultural roots that started it all.
Scenes from the El Paso County Fair in Calhan on Sunday, July 17, 2016. photo by Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette
Pick your day, plan your fair
Despite being an eight-day event, no two days at the El Paso County Fair look exactly alike, and the typical $8-69 admission price changes throughout the week.
The fair opens Saturday, with Military Appreciation Day, offering free general admission to active-duty military members, veterans and their dependent families. Then, Sunday is Western Heritage Day with a celebration of rodeo, agriculture and cowboy traditions.
Monday marks El Paso County Day with free admission for everyone, while Tuesday combines Senior Day, featuring $3 admission for guests 55 and older, with Sensory Day, offering a sensory friendly space and resources from the Autism Society of Colorado.
Visitors looking for a bargain can also stop by for Wednesday’s Dollar Day, when general admission is just $1. Thursday’s Give & Gather Day offers $2 off admission with a nonperishable food donation, while Friday’s AG Day recognizes the farmers, ranchers and 4-H members who remain at the heart of the fair.
The week wraps up Saturday with Heroes Day, giving first responders, medical professionals, educators and their dependents $2 off admission as the fair closes out.
Demolition derby at the El Paso County Fair. Photo by Courtesy of El Paso County Fairgrounds
The main attractions: Rodeos, races and a little friendly destruction
If carnival rides and funnel cakes aren’t enough to fill your day, the week’s event lineup is where the fair really kicks into gear.
Throughout the week, visitors can catch some of the fair’s biggest ticketed events, beginning with Rough Stock Rodeo & Mounted Shooting the first Saturday at 6 p.m., which features bronc riding, bull riding and shooting demonstrations.
The action continues Sunday with the Colorado Professional Rodeo Association Rodeo, where competitors take on bareback riding, steer riding, tie-down roping, mutton busting and more in a full afternoon of traditional rodeo competition.
For those who prefer horsepower over horses, auto races and hot laps will take off Monday and Friday at 4 p.m., bringing high-speed competition to the track before ending Friday night with a fireworks show.
Then comes the event that may be the loudest of them all: the Demolition Derby.
Closing out the fair’s scheduled events on Saturday at 6 p.m., the Demolition Derby turns the arena into controlled chaos as drivers crash, spin and slam into one another with one goal in mind: being the last vehicle running.
While these events are not included in general admission, except with a $69 golden ticket, fairgoers can still spend the day exploring livestock barns, carnival rides, agricultural exhibits, games, live entertainment and enough fair food to make choosing lunch the hardest competition of the week.
IF YOU GO
What: El Paso County Fair
When: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday
Where: El Paso County Fair and Events Center, 366 10th St.
Price: $0-69, elpasocountyfair.com