Hymers Fall Fair 2026: Sunshine and Sunflowers, Since 1912

A true classic country fair over Labour Day weekend near Kakabeka Falls

📍 Get Directions Full Schedule

Livestock and horse shows, an exhibit hall stacked with local produce and crafts, two stages of live music, and a proper sit-down dinner in the Dining Hall — this is a working farming community throwing its annual party, and it’s been doing it since 1912.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Friendly 🐄 Livestock Shows 🎶 Two Music Stages 🍽️ Sit-Down Dining Hall

💡 Bring a zucchini or a sunflower for your kid’s gate admission — it drops the child rate to just $1.

Why Go Schedule Shows & Exhibits Food Kids Essentials Getting There Tips FAQ

✨ Why This Fair Is Worth the Drive West

Most of Ontario’s biggest fall fairs cluster in the south, within an hour or two of Toronto. The Hymers Fall Fair sits in a different world entirely — a farming community about 30 to 40 minutes west of Thunder Bay, running a fair that predates both world wars. It’s been organized by the Hymers Agricultural Society since 1912, and more than a century later, it’s still the same volunteer-run event it always was: a working celebration of agriculture in Northwestern Ontario, not a manufactured tourist stop.

That authenticity shows up in the details. This is a fair where the prize book still matters — competitions for the biggest zucchini and sunflower are so central that bringing one to the gate literally gets your kid in for a dollar. Livestock and horse shows aren’t a sideshow; they’re the reason the grounds exist. And the Dining Hall doesn’t serve fair-food snacks so much as a full, sit-down, home-cooked dinner both days, prepared by the community for the community.

2026’s theme is “Sunshine and Sunflowers,” and it’s a fitting one for a fair whose main draw is genuinely just spending a couple of unhurried days outdoors in late-summer Northwestern Ontario, surrounded by people who take pride in what they grow and raise. If you want the real, unpolished version of a country fair — the kind that existed long before “agritourism” was a marketing term — this is closer to it than almost anywhere else in the province.

🗓️ Two Days of Music & Programming

The fair runs two full days with performances on both the Main Stage and the family-oriented Hilltop Stage, next to the children’s playground. Here’s the confirmed 2026 lineup.

🎪 Hilltop Stage (Family Programming)

Right next to the children’s playground, this second stage runs its own lighter, kid-focused lineup both days — the Best Dressed Cowboy/Cowgirl Contest and the Jello Dip are recurring fair favourites.

🐄 Shows, Exhibits & Competitions

This is where the “agricultural” in Agricultural Society earns its keep. Beef and dairy cattle shows, hunter-jumper horse competitions, and an exhibit hall packed with entries across dozens of categories — crafts, fruit, vegetables, baking, flowers, quilts, and photography — make up the backbone of the weekend. Judges trained through the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies’ judging school evaluate entries against province-wide fair standards.

🐮 Beef & Dairy Cattle Show 🐴 Hunter-Jumper Horse Show 🐕 Mutt Show 🎃 Sunflower & Zucchini Contests 🧵 Homecraft & Quilt Exhibits 🥧 Baking Competitions

🍽️ The Dining Hall & Food Booths

No need to pack a lunch — the fair offers everything from finger food to a proper sit-down dinner. The Dining Hall opens at 1 PM both days and serves a full home-cooked meal: a deep-pit barbecued roast beef dinner on Sunday, and a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings on Monday, each with a choice of homemade pie for dessert. Adult dinners run $25, with a $15 rate for kids 13 and under — bring your own containers if you’d rather take it to go.

🌭 Hot Dog Booth 🍟 Poutine 🍦 Ice Cream Booth 🥔 Baked Potato Booth 🍋 Lemonade Booth

🥧 The homemade pies — apple, pumpkin, or rhubarb — are made from donated local produce and sell out fast. Get to the Dining Hall early if you want a slice.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Kids & Family Activities

The area around the Hilltop Stage is built for kids: a playground right on site, hay horses to climb on, a giant checkerboard, craft tables, and the Jello Dip — a $1-entry favourite that runs daily before 2:30 PM. Add in the Best Dressed Cowboy/Cowgirl Contest and a baby contest on Sunday, and there’s genuinely enough to keep younger kids busy for a full day without ever leaving that corner of the grounds.

📋 Essentials at a Glance

🚗 Getting There & Parking

The Hymers Fair Grounds sit in the rural community of Hymers (Gillies township), roughly 30-40 minutes west of Thunder Bay via Highway 590/Hymers Fair Drive near Kakabeka Falls. There’s no transit service out to the grounds, so plan on driving.

Parking: On-site parking is available at the fairgrounds; expect it to be busiest around the 11:45 AM Opening Ceremony on Sunday and during the mid-afternoon entertainment blocks.

💡 A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Go

🎃 Grow a zucchini or sunflower ahead of time. It sounds like a joke, but it’s a real fair tradition — bring one to the gate and your child’s admission drops from $5 to $1.

🍽️ Get to the Dining Hall right at 1 PM. The roast beef and turkey dinners are made in limited quantities and the homemade pies go quickly — earlier seating means better odds of your first-choice pie flavour.

🥡 Bring your own containers for takeout. If you want to grab a Dining Hall meal to go rather than eat in, the fair asks you to supply your own containers.

☀️ Dress for a full day outdoors. Nearly everything — the livestock rings, the stages, the Dining Hall tent — is outside or in open-air structures, so check the forecast and dress in layers for early September in Northwestern Ontario.

🎶 Split your time between the two stages. The Main Stage lineup runs adult-oriented country, celtic, and blues acts, while the Hilltop Stage next to the playground keeps younger visitors entertained — plan your day around both if you’ve got a mixed-age group.

❓ Common Questions