176th Richland County Fair Approaches: Key Deadlines Loom for Exhibitors as August Event Takes Shape

By 4 p.m. Friday, July 24, animal exhibitors must turn months of feeding, training and care into an entry at the fair office — or leave their work outside the 176th Richland County Fair. Still-project entries, from woodworking and sewing to photography and horticulture, follow by 4 p.m. Friday, July 31.

For Richland County 4-H and FFA families, the deadlines are the gates to a fair week that begins Aug. 9. They determine whether animals in the barn and projects on the workbench become part of one of the county's longest-running traditions. For youth livestock handlers, the animal entry deadline means daily feeding, training and veterinary care must be complete and documented by Friday afternoon. For project exhibitors, the July 31 deadline is the finish line for still projects that represent months of labor.

The Richland County Fairgrounds office reopened Monday, July 20, 2026, at 8 a.m. after being closed July 16–17, 2026. Exhibitors navigating the final days before the deadlines must work around the office schedule and ensure entries arrive by 4 p.m. on their respective Fridays.

The 2026 fair is the 176th iteration of the Richland County Fair, which held its first fair — a one-day event — on Oct. 26, 1849. The fairgrounds encompass 106 acres at 750 North Home Road in Mansfield. The fair has been held at three different sites in Mansfield: originally near South Main Street and Lexington Avenue in 1849, then on Springmill Street from 1869 to 1957, and at its current Home Road location since 1957.

The fairgrounds office can be reached at (419) 747-3717 or [email protected].

The fair runs Aug. 9–15, 2026, and will feature 4-H and FFA exhibits, grandstand events including harness racing, rodeo, demolition derby, tractor pulls and motocross, and rides opening daily at noon. General gate admission is $10, with children 48 inches and under admitted free.