North Florida Fair in Tallahassee, Florida

The North Florida Fair is an eleven-day agricultural fair at the North Florida Fairgrounds in Tallahassee, set for November 5 to 15, 2026, its 84th year.

The fair's history page says the annual event, now in its 84th year, is scheduled for November 5 to 15, 2026, and that in its early years it focused on promoting local agriculture and giving farmers and artisans a place to exhibit. Its FAQ gives the address as the North Florida Fairgrounds, 441 E. Paul Russell Road, Tallahassee, FL 32301, and the association's facility page puts the grounds roughly 3 miles below the State Capitol, where Paul Russell Road crosses South Monroe Street.

The fair is not run by the City of Tallahassee or Leon County. A Leon County agenda item of April 14, 2026 describes the North Florida Fair Association as a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organized under Chapter 616, Florida Statutes, the state law governing fair associations, with a 15-member board, six full-time staff and about 100 seasonal employees during the fair, and no cash funding from the County or the City. The association's community page says it supports more than 70 FFA programs and over 225 4-H clubs across the 24 counties it serves, and has awarded nearly $500,000 in premiums to area residents over the past decade.

General admission to the 2026 North Florida Fair in Tallahassee is $10 for adults and $7 for youth ages 6 to 12, children 5 and under are free, and parking is free but limited.

The fair's FAQ says advance sale tickets are on sale through November 5 at 5 p.m. and that daily specials include free gate admission on opening night, a carload night and a $5 Friday special. Credit cards are accepted for admission, rides and most vendors. The fair's two lots are the paved Stadium Lot off Paul Russell Road and the grass Tram Road Lot off Tram Road, both with handicapped parking.

Inside the Tallahassee fairgrounds, first aid is at the back of Building 2, the Marketplace Building, and no pets are allowed except properly documented service animals, according to the FAQ. The fair's visitor information page adds free parking at Gene Cox Memorial Stadium and says StarMetro bus service is available close to the fairgrounds. Daily gate hours were not posted when the fair's pages were checked on October 18, 2026, because its operating hours page returned an error.

The 2026 youth livestock program in Tallahassee starts with poultry, rabbit and dairy goat check-ins on Wednesday, November 4, and ends with the heifer show and awards on Sunday, November 15.

The selected events below come from the fair's youth livestock page, which also lists the 24 participating counties, from Escambia and Bay to Hamilton and Levy, with Leon County among them. The Capital City Classic, an all-youth livestock show open to all 4-H and FFA members in Florida, is held with the fair; its online entry deadline is October 28, 2026, and all North Florida Fair youth livestock exhibitors are entered automatically.

The association's community page says nearly 1,000 young people take part in its livestock shows and competitive exhibits each year and that 13,000 elementary students have visited the fair on its school tours to learn about Florida agriculture. Those are the association's own counts.

The fair association's predecessor deeded the Tallahassee fairgrounds to Leon County in the 1950s, and the County has leased it back to the association since.

Minutes of the Leon County Commission's February 10, 2026 meeting, published in the April 14, 2026 agenda packet, record the County Administrator telling commissioners that the property was deeded to Leon County in the 1950s by the predecessor agency of the association. The April 14 item gives the association's own account: that it bought the property in 1949 and deeded it to the County in 1954 so that the County Commission would hold it for the annual North Florida Fair. The same item says much of the fairgrounds was built in the 1950s and has had only modest reinvestment, and that a 2022 Blueprint site analysis found roofs, walls, mechanical systems and electrical components needing repair across several buildings.

The fair is older than the Paul Russell Road grounds. When the County Commission presented a proclamation to the association on March 10, 2026, its minutes, printed in the May 12, 2026 agenda packet, record the presenting commissioner highlighting the impact the fair has had on the community since 1939. The association says the grounds have welcomed over 5.5 million visitors since the 1950s, its own estimate.

The Tallahassee fairgrounds host more than 200 event days a year by the association's count, from Market Days to gun and knife shows and model railroad shows.

The association's community page gives the 200-plus figure and says it has invested over $2 million in capital improvements in the last ten years. The April 14, 2026 County agenda item lists 2025 events including the North Florida Gun and Knife Show, Market Days, the 850 Sports Card Show and the American Vintage Markets, with recurring boat shows, home spa expos, model railroad shows, bird fairs, dog competitions, rodeos and food drives. It cites a 2021 market feasibility assessment that put the annual economic impact of fairgrounds visitors at approximately $79.2 million.

Descriptions of the Tallahassee site differ by source. The association's rental page describes a 55-acre complex with six 12,000-square-foot buildings, a cattle barn with a 50 by 50 foot show ring and over 350 RV hook-ups. The County item says approximately 107 acres are leased to the association and lists nine exhibition or storage buildings, three restrooms, one cattle barn and 12 concession and information booths. Neither source reconciles the two descriptions.

No move has been decided: Leon County and the fair association were still negotiating the Tallahassee fairgrounds lease after an April 14, 2026 vote, and the lease runs through 2067.

The Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency says its board accepted a Fairgrounds Market Feasibility Report on December 9, 2021, that recommended continued operation of the fair at its current location, and on February 29, 2024, accepted the Fairgrounds Master Plan and directed design using $30 million in project funding. Among the planned pieces are ballfields at Capital Park, better parking around Gene Cox Stadium, a park-style green with pavilions, an indoor meeting building, restroom renovations and stormwater ponds.

The Blueprint plan needs the fair association's consent. The April 14, 2026 County item says the County owns the property and leases about 107 acres to the association under a 1995 Modified Lease Agreement at $1 a year through December 31, 2067, that any improvements require mutual consent, and that the County cannot end the lease unless the association goes bankrupt, dissolves or fails to hold an annual fair. The County asked for roughly 50 acres not used for the fair; the association declined and asked instead for title to approximately 60 acres, while saying it is not opposed to relocation to a suitable site with comparable facilities.

According to the minutes in the June 9, 2026 agenda packet, commissioners voted 7 to 0 on April 14, 2026, for the Chairman and County Administrator to keep negotiating with the association and bring options back in about six months, which points to a report around October 2026. No new agreement had appeared on the County or Blueprint pages checked on October 18, 2026, so the 2026 fair goes ahead on Paul Russell Road.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the North Florida Fair's history, FAQ, livestock, community, rental and visitor pages, Blueprint's fairgrounds project page, and Leon County Commission agenda packets dated April 14, May 12 and June 9, 2026.