The Oldest Fairs in Maryland

Every year, Upper Marlboro hosts the Prince George's County Fair, which celebrates Maryland's second-most populous county and one of the most affluent majority-Black counties in the United States — the county surrounds Washington DC on two sides and combines active farming communities in the rural Patuxent River watershed with suburban communities tied to the federal government. The fair traces back to 1842, making it one of Maryland's longest-running agricultural traditions.

Held annually in Timonium, the Maryland State Fair has run since 1878, aside from a World War II-era closure. It is held each late August into early September at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, drawing more than half a million visitors annually.

The Frederick County Fair celebrates one of Maryland's fastest-growing counties — Frederick is a beautifully preserved Civil War city in the Monocacy River valley where the Battle of Monocacy (1864) bought time for Washington's defenses, and the county's active farming communities in the Catoctin Mountains foothills come together at one of Maryland's premier agricultural fairs. A 1882 founding makes it one of Maryland's longer-running agricultural traditions, still going after more than a century.

The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, based in Gaithersburg, is a nine-day August celebration in the suburbs of Washington D.C., drawing enormous crowds from the nation's capital region for livestock competition and major entertainment. Since 1949, it's brought Maryland neighbors together year after year.