The Oldest Fairs in Iowa

The Iowa State Fair in Des Moines is an eleven-day mid-August spectacular drawing over one million visitors to the state fairgrounds, one of the largest and most celebrated state fairs in America. Dating to 1854, it ranks among Iowa's oldest agricultural fairs.

Held annually in Spencer, the Clay County Fair is a nine-day mid-September celebration that is one of the largest county fairs in the world, drawing over 325,000 visitors to northwestern Iowa's premier agricultural showcase. First held in 1918, it's carried on as an Iowa agricultural tradition for well over a hundred years.

Davenport is home to the Scott Mississippi Valley Fair, which is a six-day early-August celebration in the Quad Cities, drawing 300,000 visitors to one of the largest fairs in the Midwest and the premier event of Iowa's most urban county. A 1920 founding makes it one of Iowa's longer-running agricultural traditions, still going after more than a century.

Held annually in Le Mars, the Plymouth County Fair is a five-day late-July through early-August celebration in northwestern Iowa, drawing over 112,000 visitors to the Ice Cream Capital of the World. Established in 1941, the fair has served as a community gathering point for generations.