Iowa County Fair Society, Inc.

The first Iowa County Fair was first held in 1851 in Dodgeville, WI and in 1856 the fair was moved to Mineral Point where the event has been annually for the last 160 years. It has been providing agricultural, educational and entertainment events to people from every town, village, and township in the Iowa County. The Iowa County Fair draws approximately 20,000 attendees for the 5 day event. Many generations of Iowa County families, for over 150 years, have been participating in the Iowa County Fair and have made it an important part of their family traditions. This is the only activity that brings together generations, grandparents helping grandkids with their 4-H or FFA projects, just as their grandparents did before them.

 The vision of the Iowa County Fair is to promote agricultural and industrial education to our community. To fulfill our vision, we focus on fostering our local youth 4-H groups and FFA chapters to give them a foundation they can build on for a lifetime. The 4-H and FFA participants have increased every year, with new projects and programs. The Iowa County Fair serves about 500 youth in Iowa County. The 4-H and FFA participants place holders receive back approximately $10,000 in premium payments. Within 4-H and FFA, the Livestock Auction is where the community can support the local youth with their projects.

The Iowa County Fair gives fundraising opportunities to Boy Scouts Groups, Mineral Point Lions, Dodgeville Girls Basketball, Mineral Point VFW, Family Advocates, Family Resource Center, Knights of Columbus, and Mineral Point Rescue Squad. These groups raise money by assisting in the operations of the fair, working the gate, free ice cream serving, free spaghetti supper, parking, grounds maintenance, and food and beverage concession stands. The Iowa County Fair paid out over $14,000 to these groups for services for the five day event. These groups then turn these funds around and use them in other community service functions that benefit Iowa County.

The Iowa County Fair has deep community history, youth impact and economic impact on our community. The lively hood of this organization depends greatly on the community.