The Park County Fairgrounds are coming to life for yet another week of livestock sales and community entertainment. This will be the 114th year of the Park County Fair, with this year continuing some of last year’s updates.

Once again, the fair is doubling down on auto events with truck pulls, figure 8 racing and the ever-popular demolition derby. Pig mud wrestling is back for its second year after a brief hiatus and the concert has moved from last year’s Friday slot to Wednesday night.

“We got a new genre of music that we’ve not had in my tenure — some 70s and 80s rock and roll,” Park County Events Coordinator Billy Wood. 

That Arena Rock will be bringing the rockin’ 80s back to life with their costumed theatrics.

To fill the stands, the decision was made to go a different direction with the musical act than in the past, Wood said. The last couple years country music “hasn’t really done it,” he added.

Ahead of the big night, Wood has had people ask about That Arena Rock Show, which is similar to the popular cover band Hairball, who some Powell residents travel from Powell to Deadwood to see every year.

When the gates do open, audience members will notice the opening act is also a little different. In that there isn’t one — at least not in the traditional sense. 

“We’re doing a dress up contest for our opening act so people can dress up like their favorite rock star. We'll give them a few seconds on the stage, do some air guitar, we'll announce them, and we're having the radio station be our judge,” Wood said. 

Sticking to grandstand events, when the truck and tractor pulls return Thursday night, audiences can expect to see some competitors who participated as kids before the event took a long hiatus. These competitors are really interested in the event and are helping to push it forward, Wood said. Among the tractors, a 1910 steam powered Avery tractor from Murraymere Farms, will perform an exhibition pull during the event and be at the Park County Fair all week long.

“Having a century old … amazing machine, will hopefully be a crowd pleaser," Wood said. 

Outside of grandstand events, paintless paintball will be returning to the Kids Zone and an escape room will puzzle participants as the room changes each day. 

Fairgoers can also expect a wide variety of vendors, many of them returning vendors but a few of the roughly 26 are new, Wood said. The beer garden has also been expanded with K-Bar handling the beverages. Music will be returning to the garden this year with Buck Wyld playing from 10 p.m. to midnight on Friday and The Rewinders playing 10 p.m. to midnight on Saturday.

Recurring events and services begin to open to the public on Tuesday. The first batch of fair goers will be able to escape into the carnival beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday with rides closing at 11 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday the carnival will open at 1 p.m. and close at 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday the carnival will open at noon and bid riders farewell at midnight.

Free entertainment can be found throughout the fair week from noon into the evening at the Pepsi Free Stage where there will be music, dancing and even some hypnotism. The beer garden will open at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and close at 11 p.m. The garden will open at noon and close at midnight on Friday and Saturday. 

A 4-H Breakfast will begin at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday and will be served from the kitchen of Heart Mountain Hall. 

At 11 a.m. on Wednesday the exhibit hall will open to the public and close at 10:30 p.m. for the rest of the week. The livestock barns will be open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, from noon until 10:30 p.m.

Each day of the week is sponsored by a local business:

• Tuesday is Family Fun for Everyone Day sponsored by Healthy Park County and One Health;

• Wednesday is Family Fun Fair Day sponsored by Big Horn Basin Media;

• Friday is Day At The Fair, sponsored by Yellowstone Motors;

• Kick Up Your Heels Day on Saturday is sponsored by Absaroka Door. 

Tickets for the fair are $16 for a weekly pass or $6 for a daily pass.

Admission is free all day Tuesday. The Post 26 Big Horn Boxing Club will hold a special demonstration beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday in a boxing ring set up on the concrete next to the fair office. This year, audiences can look forward to tough guy matches where the club’s boxers square off with area amateurs.

Patrons can end their day with pig mud wrestling at 7 p.m. This year, tickets are $6 and gates open at 6 p.m.

Fair admission is free until 1 p.m. Wednesday, with a concert from That Arena Rock Show screaming to life at 8 p.m. with gates opening at 7 p.m. General admission is $17 and box and floor seats are $23.

Thursday will also have free admission until 1 p.m. Patrons can end the day with the second year in a row of  truck pulls, continuing the event's return to the Park County Fair after roughly a decade-long hiatus. General admission is $12 and box seats are $17. The event begins at 7 p.m. with gates opening at 6 p.m.

On Friday, figure 8 racing put on by Only 8’s Motorsports is sure to offer some thrills. Tickets are $23 for general seating and $28 for box and floor seats. Gates will open at 5 p.m. and the concert starts at 6 p.m. 

Saturday will close out the 2024 fair with several big events. The Park County Fair Parade begins at 10 a.m. making its way down Bent Street.

The Junior Livestock Sale follows at 1 p.m., back at the fairgrounds. It’s an opportunity for community members to support Park County youth by bidding on the livestock they carefully raised themselves. 

Capping off the evening is the demolition derby at 6 p.m. in the grandstands with gates opening at 5 p.m. Tickets are $23 for general admission and $28 for box seats.