Washington's Best Fair!
Well-known and trusted guidebooks Northwest Best Places and Seattle's Best Places call the King County Fair in Enumclaw, "Washington's best county fair."

Oldest Fair West of the Mississippi
The King County Fair was founded in 1863-when Abraham Lincoln was president and Washington Territory was 26 years from statehood! It began as a simple celebration of agriculture and originally took place in the Georgetown area south of Seattle. The King County Fair moved to Renton around 1900, and then to Enumclaw after World War II.

King County Fair Award-Winning Posters, T-Shirts and Photos

These awards were won at the Washington State Fairs Association Convention, held annually at various Fairs around Washington State.

The 2007 King County Fair Poster won 1st Place at the 2007 Convention and 2nd Place at the Western Fairs Association Convention.

King County Fair Scrapbook took third place at the 2006 Convention.  Our own Open Class Superintendent, Judy Felker, completed the award-winning scrapbook.

The King County Fair received two awards in 2004.  The "Giddyup to a Fresh New Fair" poster won "First Place" in the Artistic Poster Contest and the "Giddyup" T-shirt won for "Best Use of Theme". 

The 2003 Convention awarded "Best Caption" in the Fair Photo Contest to the King County Fair for Krstina Kolerich's picture of Greg Bennick swallowing fire.  The caption was "Some Like It Hot".

The 2002 official t-shirt drawn by Jonathan Combs and designed by Dave at KNCB won "Best Of Show".  Photographer Kristina Kolerich's photos of the Pickle Look Alike contestants and the Swing Ride were awarded "First Place" in the Contest & Games and Carnival categories, respectively,

The 1998 King County Fair poster (designed by local illustrator John Fretz) was named "Best Poster" by the Washington State Fairs Association and "Outstanding Poster"  by the International Association of Fairs & Exhibitions.

 The Enumclaw Expo Center

The Enumclaw Expo Center (formerly the King County Fairgrounds) features a number of historic buildings originally constructed for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair-the same World's Fair made famous by a visit from "The King" and the film called "It Happened at the World's Fair." Though "the buildings have left the Elvis," are encounters with "The King" uncommon at the King County Fair? Come to Enumclaw and see for yourself!

What Does "Enumclaw" Mean?
There is some debate about the meaning of the word "Enumclaw." Some say it refers to the strong winds that routinely blow in the area in the autumn and winter, while others contend that it translates as "Thunder Mountain." A scholarly study of Washington state place names published by the University of Washington in the 1970s reports that Enumclaw means "home of the evil spirits." Nowadays, most folks equate Enumclaw with a high-quality of life, beautiful scenic views of Mount Rainier, and as being home of the fair to see since 1863!

The Last of the Traditional Country Fairs
The King County Fair is one of the last honest-to-goodness country fairs-with country performers, animals, a rodeo, fun food, carnival rides & games, and all kinds of 4-H, FFA, and Grange displays-surrounded by farms in a picturesque setting in the shadow of Mount Rainier. There's still a lot of real country dirt at the King County Fair-we haven't paved over much of the grass!