Renfrew Fair 2026: The Greatest Fair in the Ottawa Valley

Four days of midway rides, tribute concerts, and grandstand thrills since 1852

📍 Get Directions Full Schedule

A Thursday night truck and tractor pull, a Saturday demolition derby, Sunday horse pulls, and a beer tent lineup topped by a Tragically Hip tribute and an Anne Murray tribute — a fair that’s earned its nickname since 1852.

🚜 Truck & tractor pull 💥 Demolition derby 🐎 Horse pulls 🎤 Live tribute bands

💡 Advance online tickets end September 9 at noon and save $3-5 per person over gate pricing — worth locking in ahead of time.

Why Go Schedule Essentials Competitions Getting There Tips FAQ

✨ Why It’s Called the Greatest Fair in the Ottawa Valley

The Renfrew Agricultural Society has been running this fair since 1852, and by 1918 it was already reportedly the second-largest county fair in Ontario. That kind of scale hasn’t faded — Renfrew’s grandstand program alone (truck and tractor pulls, a demolition derby, and horse pulls across the weekend) is a genuinely deep lineup for a county fair, and the beer tent entertainment schedule reads more like a small music festival than a fair sideshow.

The 2026 entertainment lineup leans hard into tribute acts with real crowd appeal: Little Bones performing a Tragically Hip tribute Friday night, and Snowbird closing out Sunday with an Anne Murray tribute. Add Nate Haller headlining Saturday, and you’ve got three distinct nights of entertainment layered on top of the core agricultural programming — livestock shows, 4-H, floriculture, home baking, and more.

The fairgrounds sit right at 115 Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Renfrew, in the heart of the Ottawa Valley, making this an easy day trip or weekend outing from Ottawa, Pembroke, or Arnprior. Past attendees regularly call it an authentic, well-run agricultural society fair — the kind of event where the demolition derby and drop tower sit comfortably alongside genuinely competitive livestock shows, rather than one overshadowing the other.

📅 Full Schedule

Four days, each anchored by its own grandstand event and beer tent headliner.

📋 Essentials

🏅 Premier Livestock & Exhibit Programming

Renfrew’s exhibitor program covers beef cattle, heavy horses, light horses, a Steer, Sheep & Hog Show and Sale, and a full 4-H component alongside a genuinely broad Junior Fair. On the exhibit hall side, categories span home baking and preserves, maple syrup and honey, field crops, prize-winning fruits and vegetables, floriculture, arts and photography, and Women’s Institute displays.

Entries are handled through the fair’s online exhibitor system, with prize lists and entry forms published separately for each category on the official site. If you’ve got livestock, produce, or crafts you’re proud of, entering is genuinely open to the public through the standard registration process — and given the fair’s history going back to 1852, there’s a real sense of tradition in seeing your name added to a prize list that’s been running in some form for well over a century.

🚗 Getting There & Parking

The Renfrew Fairgrounds sit at 115 Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Renfrew, Ontario, in the heart of the Ottawa Valley. The town itself is well set up for visitors, with restaurants and services within a short drive of the fairgrounds if you need a break between the exhibit halls and the grandstand shows.

From Ottawa: Highway 17 runs directly to Renfrew, roughly an hour’s drive west of downtown Ottawa.

Parking: From Veterans Memorial Blvd, turn onto O’Brien Road and follow signs to Gate 4. General parking is $5 per vehicle and operated by the Renfrew Millionaires Hockey Club and Rusty Blades Hockey Club — on-grounds parking itself is reserved for exhibitors and accessible permit holders.

💡 A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Go

🎟️ Buy tickets before September 9 at noon. Advance online pricing saves $3 per adult and $3 per child over the gate rate — a meaningful discount for a family.

🚗 Plan for off-site parking. On-grounds parking is exhibitor and accessible-permit only — enter via O’Brien Road and Gate 4 for general visitor lots.

🎸 Pick your night around the tribute act you want. Friday’s Tragically Hip tribute and Sunday’s Anne Murray tribute both draw strong crowds — arrive early for a good grandstand spot.

💥 Saturday is the busiest day. Between the demolition derby and Nate Haller’s headline set, plan to arrive early if you want good grandstand seating.

❓ Common Questions