Right now, in a field along River Street in Cochranton, someone is walking a heifer past a row of pie entries while a band sets up on the stage. In three weeks, the midway lights will come up over Meadville. And on the second Saturday in September, Spartansburg will close out its 104th fair with fireworks over a town of fewer than 300 people.
Crawford County doesn’t have a fair. It has three — and across five weeks this summer, each one tells a different version of the same story. That story feels bigger this year. As the country marks its 250th birthday, our fairs are marking something too: generations of families who keep showing up, year after year, to do this together.
They’re also doing something more practical than most visitors realize. Behind the midway lights, these fairs are one of the few places left where a kid can learn to raise an animal, keep the books on it, stand in a ring and answer a judge’s questions — and get paid for the work. Agriculture is still the backbone of this county. Fair week is where the next generation of it gets built.
Cochranton Community Fair — August 3–8 (Happening Right Now)
If you can get there this week, go. The Cochranton Community Fair runs through Saturday, August 8, and it remains one of the very few free-admission fairs left in Pennsylvania — a point of real pride in a town that calls its fair “tiny but mighty.” It sits at the edge of town along French Creek, built and run by the farmers, townsfolk, and volunteers who have kept it going for generations.
This year’s theme says it all: “Celebrating 250 Years of Freedom, Families, and PA Fairs.” Wednesday evening brings the annual parade, followed on stage by multi-award-winning country artist Lee Newton, whose newest album Beautifully Undone blends Carolina roots with Nashville polish. Saturday belongs to DANJO — the duo of Danny Kensy and Barefoot Joe, whose “God’s Got His Cowboy” won Song of the Year at the Josie Music Awards on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Brett Allen Morgan, Chris Eckert, and Julia Neville fill out a lineup heavy on patriotic tribute this year, in keeping with the theme.
Between the stage sets: animal displays, kids’ contests, horse and garden tractor pulls, home show exhibits, and the kind of fair food you plan your whole day around. Cochranton is deliberate about where its energy goes — the fair’s own mission commits it to youth, education, local farmers and makers, and charitable work in the community, and it runs a Junior Fair Board alongside the adult one. Check cochrantonfair.org for the nightly schedule.
Crawford County Fair — August 22–29
The 81st Crawford County Fair opens in Meadville on Saturday, August 22, and it earns its reputation as one of the largest agricultural fairs east of the Mississippi. Gates open daily at 10 AM and the grounds run until 10 PM.
Opening Saturday is Donation Day, and children 6 and under get in free with an adult all week. Tuesday, August 25 is free all day for seniors, veterans, and active military with valid ID.
The grandstand has something different every night of the week:
- Sunday 8/23 — Christian Music Night featuring Whey Jennings, with New Beginnings Praise Team and Brandon Fox opening.
- Monday 8/24 — Bull Ride Mania Rodeo, 7 PM.
- Tuesday 8/25 — Demolition Derby, 7 PM.
- Wednesday 8/26 — Mini & Draft Horse Pulls, 4:30 and 5:30 PM. Free with gate admission.
- Thursday 8/27 — Country Music Night featuring Joe Nichols.
- Friday 8/28 — Truck & Tractor Pulls, 7 PM.
- Saturday 8/29 — Demolition Derby, two shows at 2 PM and 7 PM.
Country Music Night is the one to circle. Joe Nichols brings six No. 1 singles and more than two decades of the most honest voice in modern country — “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off,” “Sunny and 75,” “Brokenheartsville,” “The Impossible.” He’s joined by rising Texas artist Travis Bolt, whose story is as compelling as his songwriting, and the night opens with Dan Baney, a Meadville-area favorite playing solo acoustic. A homegrown artist opening for a platinum headliner on our own fairgrounds is exactly the kind of thing that makes this fair feel like ours.
Harness racing returns free with gate admission on Friday the 21st and Saturday the 22nd, followed by the garden tractor pull Saturday evening. Ride-A-Rama wristbands are available daily at the midway ticket booth.
Don’t skip the daytime, either. The barns and youth show arena are where this fair earns the “agricultural” in its name: 4-H and FFA livestock shows, dairy and market animal judging, skillathon and livestock judging contests, family living awards, and a pedal tractor pull for the four-to-seven-year-olds who will be showing steers in a decade. Most of it is included with gate admission, and all of it is free to watch. Grandstand tickets and the full daily schedule are at crawfordcountyfairpa.com.
Spartansburg Community Fair — September 7–12
Fair season closes in the county’s northeast corner, where the 104th Spartansburg Community Fair runs September 7–12 under the theme “Where Tradition Meets Fun.” Pre-fair events start the weekend before with an open horse show, then Sunday’s Royalty Pageant and Vesper Service.
Spartansburg leans hardest into the working side of agriculture, and it’s better for it. Horse pulls Monday morning. An ATV rodeo. Dead boat tractor pulls, truck pulls, and antique tractor pulls on successive nights. A woodsmen contest Friday. Goat obstacle courses, draft versatility classes, and a brand-new hands-on Ag-Venture program debuting Tuesday evening — a straightforward attempt to put farming in kids’ hands rather than just in front of them. Add a kids’ obstacle course, a big wheel race, a kids’ tractor pull, a goat dress-up at the barn, and a Monday baked goods auction, and you have a small fair that takes its next generation seriously.
The stage stays busy all week: Chris Higbee Wednesday, Concord Station Thursday, Take 5 Friday, and Whiskey Jack closing things out Saturday night. Thursday is free all day for seniors 62 and up and for veterans with valid ID.
Save your energy for Saturday. The parade steps off at 11 AM, followed by an ox roast, the Aine Celtic Academy Irish Dancers, draft hitch classes, a Kids’ Power Wheels heat, the demolition derby, cow patty bingo, a lemon pie eating contest at 8, Whiskey Jack at 9, and fireworks at 11. Rides all week from TDK Rides & Concessions. Schedule and admission details at spartansburgcommunityfair.com.
What You’ll Actually Remember
Here’s what doesn’t show up on any schedule. The Crawford County Fair’s board and committees meet every month, all year, to put on eight days in August. Spartansburg volunteers spent a Saturday in July at a work bee getting the grounds ready. Cochranton raised money for its fair with a spring breakfast buffet. None of these fairs happen because someone sells tickets — they happen because a few hundred people decide every year that they should. And for one week each, fair season fills local campgrounds and diners, hands farm families a market and a stage, and sends local kids home with the proceeds of a year’s work.
The rides are fun. The concerts are good. But ask anyone who grew up here what they remember about the fair, and you’ll get something smaller: a grandfather explaining how to judge a heifer. A fourteen-year-old’s face when the ribbon goes on her steer. The way the whole grandstand leans forward at the same moment during a horse pull.
Come for Joe Nichols or the demo derby. Then walk back through the barns while you’re there. That’s where the county’s future is standing around in muck boots, waiting on a judge.
Three towns. Three fairs. Five weeks. One county that still knows how to do this.
Plan Your Visit
- Cochranton Community Fair — August 3–8 | cochrantonfair.org
- Crawford County Fair — August 22–29 | crawfordcountyfairpa.com
- Spartansburg Community Fair — September 7–12 | spartansburgcommunityfair.com
Find more to do around each fair on our Events Calendar, or download the VisitCrawford app to plan your week.