2025 Montana State Fair guide

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The Montana State Fair runs July 25 through August 2 at the Montana Expopark.

The Electric’s summer intern, Laurel Hunt, has compiled all the details for you to make planning your visit easy.

Susan Shannon, Expo Park manager, told The Electric that the fair is “a great place to come and see all these things. It’s an experience.”

The fair is an age-old event, she said, happening all over the U.S. for a century.

“It’s the gathering place” for people to show off their products, crafts, baked, grown and more.

It’s evolved as agriculture and crafts have changed, she said, but “bringing that all together is I think what it’s all about, in a location that everyone can come enjoy.”

This year, they’ve added a “party pit” for all the night concerts, except the Oakridge Boys.

From livestock shows and milk-a-goat to Lego building, the carnival, night concerts, bingo and ground entertainment, and of course, fair food, there’s plenty for everyone starting July 25.

Fair Hours

  • July 25: 5 p.m. to midnight

  • Weekends: noon to midnight

  • Weekdays: noon to 11 p.m.

Fair Gate Admission

  • Adults: (18 to 59) – $10

  • Children: 5 and under are free

  • Lunch Special: $7 (available Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.)

  • Seniors: (60 and older) – $7

  • Youth: (6 to 17) – $7

Steel Etc. is offering fair entry passes with a minimum of 5-pounds of aluminum cans for up to four passes per family with one transaction from July 25 to Aug. 1.

Parking

Limited free parking is available via the Northwest Bypass entrance.

Carnival Wristbands

Pre-sale carnival wristbands are $28 if purchased at the Pacific Steel and Recycling Arena box office by 6 p.m. July 25.

Wristbands otherwise are $36.

Wristbands for The Mighty Thomas Carnival are good from 12-5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to close.

Night Concerts

  • Jo Dee Messina: July 27

  • Tucker Wetmore: July 28

  • The Oakridge Boys: July 29

  • Smash Mouth: July 31

  • Scotty McCeery: Aug. 1

  • Lecrae & special guest Gio: Aug. 2

Tickets for night shows can be purchased online or at the box office in the Four Seasons.

Fusion Fight League

Returning to the Pacific Steel and Recycling Arena, watch 15 bouts of live MMA. The event will showcase Denver’s Matt Jones and Montana’s own, Brandon Hegstad from Kalispell.

The fight league is July 26.

Tickets for Fusion Fight League can be purchased online here.

Bingo in the Park

Free bingo games in Central Park daily starting July 26. Participants must be 18 or older to play.

Times to play are 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Strolling Entertainment

  • Amirrorcan Men

  • Blake Guyre – Strolling Piano

  • Cast in Bronze – Musical Bells of the Carillon

  • The Storm Troopers

  • The Strolling DJ

  • XPogo

Handicapped Accessibility

See the grain elevator shaped information booth located at the Central Park loop, just inside the 3rd Street Northwest (purple gate) for wheelchair, stroller, and wagon rentals as well as maps of the facilities.

Concerns

Call 406-727-8900 for any questions, concerns or for the lost and found.

Deputies and Medical

  • Dial 911 for emergencies.

  • First Aid is located in the Mercantile Building

  • Cascade County Sheriff’s department is located on the northeast side of the Food Alley, closest to Pacific Steel and Recycling Arena.

People mover

Two people movers will run daily.

Horse racing

The Great Falls Turf Club races continue July 26-27.

Reserved seating will be sold at www.goexpopark.com.

Table seats are $25 and bucket seats are $20.

General Admission seating will be sold at the gates and is $8 per person. Those 18 and under are free for general admission seating.

Rodeo

The PRCA Big Sky Pro Rodeo is July 30 – Aug. 2. Big Sky Pro Rodeo tickets can be purchased online here.

  • General admission adult: $20

  • General admission youth (age 3-12): $12 (tickets can only be purchased at the box office)

  • Reserved seating: $28

Nightly Themes include:

  • Patriot Night: July 30 – sponsored by Tracy’s and Street Burgers

  • Family Night: July 31 – sponsored by Stockman Bank

  • Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night: Aug. 1 – sponsored by Benefis Sletten Cancer Institute

  • Pepsi Night: Aug. 2 – sponsored by Pepsi-Cola of Great Falls

Stop by at any of the sponsoring locations for a $2 off coupon.

Food Vendors

This year’s Food Alley vendors are:

  • PurpleGold
  • Bobalectric
  • Stuff’d
  • Levandowski Concessions
  • Guttbusters—Cowpies
  • Sons of Norway
  • C&C lemonade, pizza, corn dogs
  • Smokewagon BB
  • Pink Ribbon ice cream
  • Snow Drift snow cones
  • Bac-On Foods
  • Espresso on the Go
  • Frybread Express
  • Firehouse Cookie Dough
  • The Meat Shack
  • Sabores de Oaxaca
  • Donut Bros.
  • French Fry Factory
  • Taco Treat
  • Tropic Cool Dessert Isle
  • Texas Twisted
  • Budz & Grubz
  • Taste of the South
  • Budda Belly Yum Yum
  • Bourbon Chicken skewers
  • Brian’s Top Notch
  • Frosty’s

Competitive Exhibits

The competitive exhibits portion of the Montana State Fair features 21 unique departments. Potential exhibitors worldwide are invited to take advantage of one or several of these departments to showcase their talents. Exhibitors can be youth to a senior citizen, open class, or special needs.

Winning entries earn ribbons, some will receive premium monies and, in many cases, special sponsor awards. A minimal entry fee is charged in all classes except youth.

The results will be posted to the county website here as they come in.

As of July 23, quilting results were already posted.

Livestock shows

There’s ample opportunity to check out livestock during the fair, including:

  • July 25: rabbits on display in the Rabbit/Poultry Barn from 5-11 p.m.
  • July 26: ponies on display in the Pony Barn from noon to 1 p.m. and pony performance at 4 p.m.
  •  July 26: animals on display in the FFA Barn from noon to 11 p.m.
  • July 29 to Aug. 2: milk-a-goal from 6-8 p.m. in the FFA Barn
  • Aug. 1: poultry judging in the Rabbit/Poultry Barn from noon to 3 p.m.

For the full schedule, view the county’s fair guide here.

Commercial Vendors

Montana State Fair offers more than 200 indoor and outdoor commercial vendor booths.

Maps of this year’s commercial vendors and their locations are available here: