The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair will return in precisely one month, beginning on Friday, August 8 and ending on Saturday, August 16. The 76th annual fair will take place this year.
On Friday, August 8, the fair will open from 3 p.m. to midnight (gates close at 11 p.m.); on Saturdays and Friday, August 15, it will be open from 12 p.m. to midnight. The fair will be open from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. from Sunday, August 10 through Thursday, August 14 (gates close at 10 p.m.). Family Days are set for August 11 and 12, with cheap ride wristbands available.
Lone Oak Brewery, Doc Waters Cidery, New Orleans Style Snow Balls, Dickerson Market, Dippin’ Dots, Corn Guys, Churro Inc., and Don Julio’s Kitchen are among the concessions this year.Grandstand events include a one-night only Stoney Roberts Demolition Derby on August 16, a Red Eye Rodeo on August 15, and two nights of Monster Truck action on August 13 and 14. All events start at 7:30 p.m. and offer pre- or post-show opportunity to meet competitors. On Friday, August 8, Taste MoCo will also present the yearly Fair Food awards.
History of the AG Center: 4-H organizers wanted to give the county show to the 4-H members in Montgomery County, thus they created the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. The community would be able to see the 4-H members’ prize livestock, garden, and home economics projects. On a chilly March evening in 1945, they first met in Rockville with the goal of establishing a fair. One of the biggest county fairs in the state of Maryland is currently the Montgomery County Fair.
Anyone in the community with an interest in agriculture gave their time and energy during the first few years of this new program, which ran from 1945 to 1948, so that 4-H and FFA youth could compete for top awards with their projects. These young people’s parents set up the entries, constructed enclosures and ties for the cattle, sold catalog ads, and provided refreshments for the attendees. The Maryland State Fair Board supplied the prize money, and the performances were hosted on borrowed property.
On January 7, 1949, a group of local farmers were chosen to serve as the organization’s inaugural Board of Directors by the voluntary membership, establishing the Montgomery County Agricultural Center Inc. (MCAC) as a privately run 501(c)(3) non-profit. Herman Rabbitt, a prosperous farmer and landowner in Gaithersburg, had recently sold 64 acres of land next to the train tracks to the MCAC. After a traditional barn raising, hundreds of volunteers helped construct 12 outbuildings in a single day on June 4, 1949. The new Montgomery County Agricultural Center was established on the site. In order to build and maintain the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds, committed volunteers gave their time, money, and skills. Without the visionary pioneers who were dedicated to family entertainment and agricultural education, the Fairgrounds would not be what they are today.
As is the case with the agricultural center today, the volunteers were and remain essential to the Fairgrounds’ smooth operation by providing free labor and resources for the building of new structures and the renovation of existing ones. With over 2,000 volunteers still contributing their time, the agricultural center is an essential component of Montgomery County’s business community. Over 800 volunteers take on the task of planning and executing the single biggest yearly event in Montgomery County, the nine-day Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, which takes place in mid-August.
