Camping at Fair Grounds?

Raleigh NC Fairgrounds has one. They have expanded recently. $25 per night IIRC.

Nebraska State Fair Campground is in Grand Island. Very new. Paved roads and pads with gravel between. W/S/50 and 30 amp


South Dakota State Fair campground is in Huron. +1000 sites and open all season except for Fair time. Gravel roads and grass sites. 30 and some 50 amp. Fresh water spigots and dump stations scattered around. Icky bathrooms and showerhouses.


Brown County Fair camping all season except fair time in Aberdeen, SD. +500 spots, about 1/3 with w/s/e, and the rest with w/e. Gravel roads, grass or gravel sites.

Nick Russell, who is a fulltimer and publishes the Gypsy Journal newsletter on a bi monthly basis also has several self published books on travel. One is a Fairgrounds camping guide for all states. www.gypsyjournal.net. He also publishes a 7 in 1 CD that has 7 of his books on 1 cd. We used to use fairgrounds more than we do now, they have raised their prices, like everyone else and $30 to smell horse doo doo is a bit much for me. Passport America & the casinos are a much better value.

Almost every fairground in MI has a camp ground and dump station. Along with many of the Casinos except for in the Detroit area. Most of these cost less than $24 a night.

The operators of the fairgrounds want the revenue from RVer's when the grounds are not otherwise in use and generating income but still need to be maintained and policed. We usually find the rates at these types of facilities to be half that of a private RV park.

Towns also have RV overnight facilities, some with full hookups and others that are limited but in our experience these are also very quiet. Some are in city parks and others at city facilities like a water treatment plant. Not a good choice on the weekends but during the week they are worth considering.

FYI: NOT AT Dallas State Fair Grounds
It is the worst part of town and not safe to be after dark
(not even during the day time for that fact)
So my RV/camping friends - do not even think about Dallas State Fair Grounds for over nighting.

Sioux Falls SD

The DE state fairgrounds has both a casino and RV spots. That way you have somewhere to cry after you lose all of your money. In Harrington on US RT 13.

D & M wrote:
Not around here.

I couldn't believe you don't have some so I did a quick search. Your right, no such luck. Did find this though in case your interestedhttp://mdcamping.com/ look under "free camping guide".

Oklahoma City
Tulsa, OK
Shawnee, OK
Columbia, MO
Wayne County, MI
Claremore, OK

That's just personal experience. In general, I would expect a camping or RV parking area with some kind of hookups at most fairgrounds or expo centers that hold extended agricultural events. Farmers have been hauling trailers to live in to state and county fairs for about 80 years, long before there was an industry to coin the term RV. Before that, horse drawn house wagons, sometimes called caravans.

Not strictly fairgrounds, but cities will have RV parks meant to support events like rodeo and to provide for seasonal worker (so they don't end up parking in the street). Two I've visited in Kansas are Coffeyville and Chanute. Wichita Falls in Texas has a park specifically for transients at the end of I-44.