The Evergreen State Fairgrounds hosts the annual 12-day Evergreen State Fair every August through Labor Day. The Fair is the largest county fair in the Pacific Northwest and the largest single attraction held annually in Snohomish County. Situated in Monroe, 35 miles northeast of Seattle and 12 miles east of Everett, the fairgrounds comprise 193 acres with buildings and land valued at more than $50 million. The facilities are available for rent during the year, making the grounds a valuable community resource. A staff of 21 works year-round and over 400 fair-time employees are hired each August. The Evergreen State Fairgrounds features permanent facilities that are used year-round for Northwest horse shows, trade shows, swap meets, auto races and more. The fairgrounds includes the Gary Weikel Events Center ; the Evergreen Speedway with its paved oval track, is the only NASCAR venue in Washington and has a 7,000-seat covered grandstand; a clear-span sports arena that can seat 4,000, two RV areas with dump stations, and a variety of other permanent exhibition facilities.
History
The first agricultural show in Snohomish County was held in November 1874 by local farmers and tradesmen at the Blue Eagle Building in Snohomish. The Snohomish County Agricultural Society organized annual editions of the fair until 1878, sending exhibits to represent the county at a territorial fair in Olympia, but was unable to continue the event because of the ongoing national financial panic. Other fairs were held in Everett, the new county seat, Monroe, and Snohomish at various sites. The Snohomish County Fairgrounds was established in 1911 at a site on the west side of the city, but was only used by the county fair until 1916. The Snohomish County Fair moved to Granite Falls in 1922 and was later replaced by community fairs, named the Cavalcade of Valleys, in areas around Monroe during the Great Depression and World War II. The county fair was moved permanently to Monroe, opening at the modern-day fairgrounds on September 5, 1946, and renaming itself to the Evergreen State Fair in 1949. A 4,000-seat sports arena was completed in 1970, coinciding with a longer ten-day run for the fair. The fair has only been cancelled three times: during the 1918 influenza pandemic, World War II, and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
