The Oldest Fairs in Nevada

Carson City is home to the Nevada State Fair, which is the official state fair of Nevada, held each June at Mills Park in the state capital. The fair traces back to 1874, making it one of Nevada's longest-running agricultural traditions. This intimate, free-admission fair celebrates Nevada's agricultural heritage and community culture in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada, offering a distinctive small-scale state fair experience quite unlike the massive fairs of other western states.

The Elko County Fair, celebrating its 105th year in 2026, is one of Nevada's oldest and most venerable county fairs, held each late August through Labor Day at the Elko County Fairgrounds. It began in 1922 and has stayed a fixture of Nevada agricultural life for more than a century. Elko is the cultural hub of the Great Basin ranch country — home to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering — and the fair reflects the deep cowboy culture and ranching heritage of northeastern Nevada.

The White Pine County Fair in Ely celebrates a central Nevada county where copper mining shaped the community around the Nevada Northern Railway — Ely's Nevada Northern Railway Museum operates historic steam locomotives on original track, and the county's ranching, mining, and Great Basin wilderness define one of the most remote counties in the lower 48 states. The area's broader history includes notable events and landmarks dating to 1906.