Clay County Fair
Spencer, IA · Festival
- When
- September 12–20, 2026
- Where
- Clay County Fairgrounds · Spencer · IA
- Cost
- Not confirmed
- Status
- Confirmed from the organizer's published schedule
Known since 1917 as the World's Greatest County Fair, the Clay County Fair fills its Spencer fairgrounds for nine days each September with livestock competitions, a demolition derby, national touring acts and a midway. It draws roughly 300,000 visitors, making it Iowa's largest county fair and one of the largest in the country.
The history within reach
Real hobos and hobo hobbyists have gathered in this small north Iowa town since 1900 to elect a Hobo King and Queen, share mulligan stew from an open kettle, and swap stories at the Hobo Jungle.
The show was filmed in California, but Walnut Grove is the real prairie town Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in and wrote about, on the banks of Plum Creek.
- Templeton Rye86 mi
During Prohibition this Iowa farm town of a few hundred ran a bootleg rye operation of genuine scale, 'Templeton rye' was the good stuff in Midwest speakeasies, and Al Capone's outfit was a customer.
- August Schell87 mi
A German immigrant's brewery in a German colony town, spared in the Dakota War of 1862, the family had dealt fairly with the Dakota, and the brewery was left standing while the town burned.
- Buddy Holly crash89 mi
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P.