The Oldest Fairs in Mississippi

Jackson is home to the Mississippi State Fair, which is one of the South's premier state fairs, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Mississippi Fairgrounds Complex in the heart of downtown Jackson each October. It's been held since 1856, one of Mississippi's most enduring county fair traditions. Since 1856, this 11-day fair has been the flagship celebration of Mississippi agriculture, entertainment, and community.

The Neshoba County Fair — known as "Mississippi's Giant Houseparty" — is one of the most unique fair experiences in America. Launched in 1889, the fair has held its place in Mississippi agricultural life for generations. Held each late June in Philadelphia, Mississippi, this eight-day event is less a traditional agricultural fair and more a massive community celebration where hundreds of families stay on the fairgrounds in privately owned wooden cabins passed down through generations.

Held each July in New Albany, Union County Fair celebrates the cotton, timber, and literary heritage of a county that was the birthplace of William Faulkner — Nobel Prize-winning author and one of the most important writers in American literature, born here in 1897.