Eddy County Fair 2025 Coming Soon

By Misty Cryer

The Eddy County Fair will open to the public on Tuesday, July 22, and will run until Saturday, July 26. Filled with shows, competitions, food, and entertainment, the fair is held each year at the Eddy County Fairgrounds, 3402 S. 13th St. in Artesia.

“It’s the same fair, but a lot different this year,” said Dylan Pinson, President of the Fair Board. Despite ongoing construction, he said, they are trying to make it easy for the public to still enjoy all the same things. “It’s just going to be real tight this year,” he said.

“There’s just tons of stuff for the public to do,” said Pinson. “We’re open all week starting that Tuesday at 10 a.m., and I believe the barns close at 9 p.m. The carnival runs until 11 p.m. or midnight every night,” he said.

“We have livestock shows every single day,” said Pinson. “The Fire and Ice competition is on Saturday morning. It’s like a dollar a ticket to sample all the chili contestants make and the homemade ice cream that the kids make,” he said.

“Our awards are on Friday afternoon for all the livestock participants. The junior livestock sale is Saturday night,” said Pinson.

Taylor Salter is the 2024/2025 Fair Queen, said Pinson. He explained that the Eddy County Fair Queen contestants compete all week, and the 2025/2026 Fair Queen will be crowned at the 4-H and FFA awards ceremony on Friday.

“When it comes to our entertainment and daily activities, we’ve increased our budget on all that pretty significantly, and we’ll have things going on all day long,” said Pinson. He mentioned interactive events for the kids to teach them how to rope, brush horses, and milk cows. “Not a real cow, but some kind of simulator,” he said.

Roaming entertainers will be present at the fair. “We have several of those scheduled this year,” said Pinson.

“Our concerts are on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night,” said Pinson. He said a Christian band will perform on Wednesday, which is known as Faith and Family Night. “That one is going to be free admission,” he said.

Rhett Walker and Unspoken are scheduled to perform on Faith and Family Night, according to the Facebook page for The Eddy County Fair.

“Thursday night, we decided to do like a Hispanic cultural night, so that’s something new to the fair this year. Instead of two country concerts, we’re trying to have a Hispanic concert,” said Pinson. Secretto and La Reunion Norteña are listed as entertainers at the Thursday night concert according to the Eddy County Fair website.

“Friday night, we have our Smoking Hot Bull Riding and the Chris Young concert right after,” Pinson said. “It’s the same format as past years, we just went for a lot bigger artists this year,” he said.

“We went down on our ticket prices this year, too,” said Pinson, explaining that the Thursday concert and Friday’s bull riding and concert have admissions fees. “It’s just $10 per person (each night). You can also buy them on our website to speed it up a little bit,” he said.

A variety of food vendors will be at the fair, spread out more this year due to the construction. “We lost a lot of that area, too, so we have two different food areas this year,” said Pinson.

The fair will feature a full carnival, he said. “I think he’s bringing five more rides than he did last year, so it is going to be bigger.”

This year’s fair is dedicated to Andrea Pettit, said Pinson. “I’ve been around the Fair Board for about 10 years now, and before that, I showed at the fair. She’s always been around and always been happy to help, a big part of the lamb show. She’s just a really dedicated member, and I can’t think of anybody else who would deserve it more than she does,” he said.

“We did a complete redesign on our website this year, too, so it’s more smartphone-friendly, and there’s a full schedule on there and a whole lot of information,” said Pinson.

The Eddy County Fair website can be found at: https://www.eddycountyfair.com.