Why Hillsdale Calls Its Fair "The Most Popular Fair on Earth"

“The Most Popular Fair on Earth” is the Hillsdale County Fair’s own grand nickname. It is part of the fair’s identity, not the result of a statewide or national attendance ranking. Even the local historical society treats the phrase with a wink, which is a useful way to read it: Hillsdale is telling you how much the fair means here.

The history underneath the slogan is solid. Hillsdale County says its agricultural society organized in 1850, and the first fair was held on the courthouse lawn in October 1851. The fair moved to its present grounds in 1860. That makes it a long-running county institution without needing to turn its age into a contest with every other fair in Michigan.

One building helps the grounds tell that story. SAH Archipedia dates the fairgrounds’ Grange Hall to 1879. It is a distinctive old fair building, but the reviewed sources do not establish the old page’s claim that it is the country’s oldest Grange hall. The fair posts a new schedule each year because livestock shows, rides, pulls, and grandstand events do not all return on the same timetable.