Orange County Fair (New York)

The Orange County Fair is an annual fair held in the town of Wallkill, New York. The fair began when farmers of Orange County organized an agricultural society to help promote a county fair. In 1808 they tried to organize the fair but it did not generate enough local interest. The society tried again in 1818 and held the fair until 1825. It took another sixteen years before county leaders met at the Old Stone Courthouse in Goshen, New York on September 11, 1841, and formed the Orange County Agricultural Society. That meeting was the birth of the Orange County Fair and the first fair was held on November 17, 1841, in Goshen.

Since that first fair in Goshen, the fair gained in popularity and other communities wanted to host it on a rotating basis. The fair rotated locations from year to year in Montgomery, NY, Chester, NY, Newburgh, NY, Warwick, NY, Washingtonville, NY, Goshen, NY and Middletown, NY.

In 1862 the fair's permanent site in Goshen was established but by 1872 the fair was in trouble because the lease on that site was not renewed, however, a group of Orange County farmers kept the fair alive in succeeding years. ^[1]

It was permanently located in the Wallkill– Middletown area in 1897. ^[2]

The fair was cancelled during WWI from 1917 to 1918, WWII 1942–45 and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Orange County Fair Speedway

The fairgrounds are also home to the Orange County Fair Speedway, where they hold stock car races and demolition derbies during the summer months. It is the oldest continuously operating dirt track in the United States. In 1919, a group staged an automobile race during the annual fair. The first race was a huge success, and auto racing has been an integral part of the fairgrounds ever since. ^[3]

4-H And Future Farmers of America

The fair no longer maintains 4-H and Future Farmers of America exhibits, Future Farmers of America hasn't been a part of the fair for a number of years and in 2012, 4-H pulled out as well. The fair now brings in private agricultural displays and exotic animals which it considers more friendly to its customers. ^[4]

Westwood One / Pepsi Concert Series

In the 1980s and 1990s, each summer, the Orange County Fairgrounds hosted the Westwood One & Pepsi Concert Series, featuring some of the biggest names in the rock & pop music industry. Some of the music acts included:

Artist / Band	Tour	Date
Jan & Dean	Reunion Tour	July 24, 1981
The Beach Boys		August 28, 1983
Aerosmith with Orion the Hunter (band)	Back in the Saddle Tour	July 5, 1984
38 Special w/ special guest Night Ranger	Tour de Force Tour	July 30, 1984
Stray Cats	Rant n' Rave w/ the Stray Cats Tour	July 31, 1984
Crosby, Stills & Nash	CSN Summer Tour	August 10, 1984
Huey Lewis and The News	Sports Tour	August 24, 1984
Santana (band)	Beyond Appearances Tour	June 30, 1985
Huey Lewis and The News	Sports Tour - "Power Of Love" Segment	July 18, 1985
Willie Nelson	Willie Nelson & Family LIVE!	July 30, 1985
Foreigner w/ special guest Joe Walsh	Juke Box Heroes Tour	August 1, 1985
Bryan Adams w/ special guest Cock Robin (band)	Reckless Tour	August 27, 1985
Rick Springfield w/ special guest Til' Tuesday	Cathode Ray Tour / Voices Carry Tour	September 1, 1985
Jackson Browne	Lives In The Balance Tour	July 6, 1986
Alabama w/ special guest Sawyer Brown	The Touch Tour	July 23, 1986
The Monkees with Herman's Hermits & Gary Puckett & The Union Gap	20th Anniversary Reunion Tour	July 24, 1986
Loverboy with special guest Dokken	Lovin Every Minute Of It Tour	July 31, 1986
Stevie Nicks w/ special guest Peter Frampton	The Rock A Little Tour	August 17, 1986
John Fogerty	Rockin' All Over the World Tour	September 9, 1986
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers w/ Georgia Satellites & Del Fuegos	Rock 'N' Roll Caravan '87 Tour	July 11, 1987
Bryan Adams with Special Guest The Hooters	Into The Fire Tour	June 15, 1987
Heart (band) with Tom Kimmel	Bad Animals Tour	July 23, 1987
Kenny Rogers w/ special guest Ronnie Milsap	Kenny Rogers 10th Anniversary Tour	August 28, 1987
Huey Lewis & The News w/ special guest Bonnie Hayes & the Wild Combo	FORE! Tour	August 30, 1987
Heart w/ special guest Michael Bolton	Bad Animals Tour II	June 26, 1988
Def Leppard w/ special guest Europe (band)	Hysteria Tour	July 26, 1988
Judas Priest w/ special guest Cinderella (band)	Mercenaries of Metal Tour	July 27, 1988
Whitesnake	Slip of the Tongue Tour	August 5, 1988
Aerosmith w/ special guest Guns N' Roses	Permanent Vacation Tour / Appetite For Destruction Tour	August 7, 1988
INXS w/ Jimmy Barnes	Calling All Nations Tour	August 19, 1988
Bob Dylan	Never Ending Tour	September 2, 1988
Poison (band) w/ special guest Tesla	Open Up And Say...Ahh! Tour	June 2, 1989
Ozzy Osbourne w/ special guests White Lion and Vixen (band)	No Rest For The Wicked Tour	July 2, 1989
Bon Jovi w/ Skid Row	New Jersey Syndicate Tour	July 9, 1989
Metallica w/ The Cult	Damaged Justice Tour / Sonic Temple Tour	July 14, 1989
The Beach Boys w/ special guest Chicago (band)	Endless Summer Tour / Beachago Tour 1989	July 25, 1989
Yes (band)	An Evening of Yes Music Plus Tour	August 9, 1989
Tom Petty w/ special guest The Replacements	Strange Behavior Tour	August 18, 1989
The B-52's	Cosmic Tour	June 15, 1990
Kiss w/ special guest Slaughter	Hot In The Shade Tour	June 17, 1990
Aerosmith w/ special guest The Black Crowes	Pump Tour / Shake Your Money Maker Tour	June 19, 1990
Mötley Crüe w/ special guest Tesla	Dr. Feelgood World Tour / Five Man Acoustical Jam Tour	July 1, 1990
Whitesnake w/ Faster Pussycat	Liquor & Poker World Tour	July 6, 1990
Heart w/ Giant (band)	The Brigade Tour	July 18, 1990
Crosby, Stills & Nash	Tour: Live It Up	July 23, 1990
Poison with Slaughter & Bullet Boys	Swallow This Live: Flesh & Blood World Tour	June 5, 1991
Megadeth / Slayer / Anthrax / Alice In Chains	Clash Of The Titans Tour	June 27, 1991
Doobie Brothers	American Tour	July 4, 1991
David Lee Roth w/ Cinderella & Extreme	Little Ain't Enough Tour	July 5, 1991
Yes	Union Tour	July 22, 1991
Huey Lewis and the News	Hard At Play Tour	July 24, 1991
The Scorpions w/ Great White, Aldo Nova, & Mr. Big	Crazy World Tour	July 25, 1991
Judas Priest with Alice Cooper, Metal Church & Dangerous Toys	Operation Rock N' Roll Tour	August 16, 1991
Bad Company w/ special guest Damn Yankees	Holy Water Summer Tour	September 2, 1991
ZZ Topp with Extreme	Recycler Tour / Pornograffiti Tour	September 11, 1991
Steve Miller Band w/ Curtis Salgado	The Lost Cities Tour	August 7, 1992
The Allman Brother w/ special guest Jeff Healey Band	Shades of Two Worlds Tour / FEEL THIS	August 28, 1992
Tesla	Psychotic Supper World Tour	September 20, 1992
Van Halen w/ special guest Vince Neil Band	Right Here, Right Now Tour	July 6, 1993
Soul Asylum / Spin Doctors / Screaming Trees	MTV Alternative Nation Tour	July 15, 1993
Phish w/ Blues Traveler & Widespread Panic	1993 SUMMER TOUR / HORDE Tour	July 21, 1993
Def Leppard w/ special guest Ugly Kid Joe	Adrenalize Tour	July 30, 1993
Metallica / Danzig / Suicidal Tendencies	Shit Hits The Shed Tour	June 17, 1994
Scorpions	Face the Heat Tour	July 6, 1994
Michael Bolton w/ special guest Celine Dion	The Color of My Love Tour	August 4, 1994
Yes	Talk Tour	August 21, 1994
Queensrÿche w/ Type O Negative	The Road To The Promised Land Tour	July 25, 1995
101.5 WPDH 20th Anniversary $20,000 Cash Bash	with Special Guest .38 SPECIAL	June 28, 1996
Def Leppard	Slang Tour	July 19, 1996
Cypress Hill & Fugees	Smokin' Grooves Tour	August 6, 1996
Iggy Pop w/ Sponge (band) & Bloodhound Gang	Naughty Little Doggie Tour	June 20, 1997
Stephen Lynch		July 21, 1997
Boyz II Men	Evolution Tour	July 6, 1998
Goo Goo Dolls with Sugar Ray	Dizzy Up the Girl Tour	Aug. 29, 1999
The Marshall Tucker Band		July 25, 2001
Survivor		Friday July 23, 2004 8PM (PEPSI portable stage)
Buddy Jewell		July 24, 2004 (PEPSI portable stage)
Mountain / Vanilla Fudge / Canned Heat	Then & Now Tour	July 27, 2004
Josh Turner	Long Black Train Tour	July 28, 2004
Vital Remains w/ Immolation	Death In The Forest Festival 2006	May 20, 2006
3 (band)	The End Is Begun Tour	July 19, 2008
Graham Parker		October 11, 2008
Night Ranger w/ Vince Neil	35th Anniversary Tour	July 18, 2018
The Iron Maidens		Aug 6, 2021

References

1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lN5GAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xDMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2809%2C2193801 Oldest NY County Fair
2. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Zl5GAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pjINAAAAIBAJ&pg=2562%2C2176542 How Early Farmers launched the OCF
3. http://victoryspeedway.net/ Victory Speedway
4. 4-H Won't Be At OCF

External links

• Orange County Fair
• Orange County Fair Speedway
• The History of Orange County Fair Speedway