New hot dog eating contest, return of dinner with the fair queen court, and more coming up at the 2026 Manchester Community Fair
Manchester Community Fair 2025. Photo courtesy of Manchester Community Fair.
by Sara Swanson
The 81st annual Manchester Community Fair is just around the corner, kicking off Tuesday, August 18 with the Fair Parade through downtown Manchester and wrapping on Saturday, August 22 with the rodeo and a performance by hometown band the Rifleman. Many old favorites will be returning but there are changes and a new event, a hot dog eating contest, this year!
As usual, exhibit entries can be brought to the exhibit building on Sunday, August 16 and Monday, August 17. For specifics on what can be entered and prizes, see this year’s Fair Book (online only.)
The parade kicks off the Fair on Tuesday at 6:30. The Parade Grand Marshals this year are John and Colleen Kemner. The parade is again the same route as last year with line-up beginning at 5:45pm along Adrian Street and up to Territorial. The parade will head west on Territorial, turning onto S. Elton near the Manchester Market, then turning east onto Main Street and heading back into downtown, and ending at the Fairgrounds. The theme of the fair this year is Through the Decades. There will be prizes awarded again this year for floats and decorated golf carts. 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. There is no pre-registering, if you would like to participate in the parade, just show up. And as usual, there will be lots of candy thrown to the kids along the route.
Crowning of the Fair Queen will take place at the fair grounds after the parade. The Fair and midway officials open at 5pm and after the crowning of the Fair Queen, there will be a car and tractor show and swine judging.
On Wednesday, the day starts with the compact tractor pull, classic tractor pull, lamb & steer judging, Insane Wrestling Revolution which has tickets from ring side seats available for purchase on the fair’s website.
On Thursday there will be a Senior Citizens program in the pavilion with lunch at 11:30pm, and in the evening a Showmanship sweepstakes, adult swine showmanship, and mid-season bump and run championship. At 7pm there will be a hotdog eating contest, a new event this year! It costs $10 to enter and all contestants will receive a hat. The winner, whoever can eat the most hotdogs in 5 minutes, will receive a shirt, trophy and bragging rights. Register here.
Friday (the free admission day!) starts off with farm stock tractor pulls in the morning, then a dinner with the fair queen and court at 5:30pm. Angie Fuller, Fair president explained “This was new last year and was a huge turnout and so we are bringing it back this!” This is a free dinner for kids with hotdogs, mac and cheese, and fruit. There will be temporary tattoos, face painting, bubble wands, and princess appearance along with the fair queen court. Dressing up fancy is optional! RSVP here.
After dinner on Friday, there will be a kid’s firefighter training course, a corn hole tournament, fire department extraction training competition, animal auction, and lawn mower barrel racing.
Saturday starts off with Ladies Day at 10am. In the afternoon there will be a touch-a-truck, Ag Olympics, pedal pull, bunny show, and kids day prize drawings. The rodeo will begin at 7pm.
After opening day, the midway opens at 3pm every day, except on Saturday when it opens at 1pm.There will be a beer tent that opens each evening and a nightly drawing.
Admission to the fair is free on Friday this year. Tuesday admission is $5, Wednesday and Thursday it is $10, and Saturday it is $5 from 9am to noon and $10 after noon. Children 5 and under are free. If you will going every day, consider buying a season pass for $30 that saves you $5. Fuller adds, “The Carnival will be starting a presale of the weeklong wristbands soon that will be available to purchase until midnight Monday the 17 and it is a major savings if you are buying a wristband for the week.”
Fuller states that they are also still needing volunteer gate workers, and anyone interested can sign up at Sign up genius.
See you at the fair!
2026 Grand Marshals for the Manchester Community Fair, Colleen and John Kemner. Photo courtesy of the Manchester Community Fair.
Last year’s Mid Season Bump and Run Championship with the USA Demolition Derby. Photo courtesy of Manchester Community Fair.
2025 Lost Rodeo. Photo courtesy of the Manchester Community Fair.
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