The 2025 Ramsey County Fair has been called off, making this the sixth straight year the event has been canceled.
The primary reason for the cancellation, organizers said in an announcement on the fair’s website, is a recent decision by the county to no longer host any external event on the Maplewood fairgrounds over concerns relating to accessibility and unsafe buildings.
However, the issues that derailed the fair in 2022, 2023 and 2024 remain problematic, primarily relating to clean-up, insurance and the use of county resources. (The 2020 and 2021 fairs did not take place because of the pandemic.)
Previously, the county absorbed the costs of mowing, utilities and trash services and did not collect an event fee or parking revenue. When the Ramsey County Agricultural Society, an independent organization that runs the fair, was staging a post-pandemic comeback, the county announced it intended to charge the fair for these production costs, a total of about $25,000, which fair officials said in previous years was unworkable.
Representatives for both the fair and Ramsey County could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.
The inaugural Ramsey County Fair was held in 1913, and the event has taken place in its most recent location, at 2020 White Bear Ave. in Maplewood, since the 1950s.
In the fair’s cancellation announcement, organizers note that the agricultural society intends to continue exploring whether the Fair could take place elsewhere or potentially still operate at the Maplewood fairgrounds without using the unsafe buildings, but the status of those negotiations is unclear.
To operate, the fair estimates, it needs about 12 acres of land for a carnival, entertainment and beer tent, plus access to utilities like electricity and water.
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