REDMOND ROCKS!
County fairgrounds
Nicole Werner / Spokesman file photo
The Deschutes County Fair & Rodeo in Redmond.
T
he Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center is a
132-acre site located in Redmond, Oregon. It is
placed strategically at the hub of the tri-county area
(Deschutes, Jefferson, Crook Counties) together known
as Central Oregon. It is 15-minutes from Bend, the largest
city; 20-minutes from Prineville; 20-minutes from Sisters;
25-minutes from Madras; and 5-minutes from Redmond.
The facility is designed on a circular plot, standing at
the center a person is never more than 300 yards from any
one space. This Center Court is a beautiful location for
any outdoor event, it features a showpiece water feature
in a natural landscape setting on 3.65 acres, complete with
beautifully manicured grass, ponds, cascading waterfall,
and windmill.
Did You Know?
Redmond’s fair history goes much deeper.
The area’s first settlers organized agricultural events, dubbed Po-
tato Shows, beginning in 1906, before Redmond was incorporated.
After the formation of Deschutes County in 1916 (before that,
both Bend and Redmond were in Crook County), locals waged a
battle with Bend over which community the state should recog-
nize as the home of the official county fair.
Redmond won out in 1919, and over the next year, a flurry of
construction yielded an arena, a 1,200-seat grandstand, a race-
track, barns and exhibit buildings on land long used for commu-
nity events. The site now is home to Fred Meyer and Lowe’s stores.
Today the fairgrounds consists of a 279,000-square-foot event
center, a 106-space RV park, a large outdoor rodeo grounds, three
smaller buildings for community events and a variety of animal
barns.
See County Fair / P56
Page 55