The Gilmer County Fair opens Thursday, Aug. 6, at the Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds, 1729 South Main Street, and runs 11 nights through Sunday, Aug. 16. Adult admission is $5, students get in for $3, and children 6 and under are free. Unlimited-ride armbands are $30, with individual ride tickets sold at the gate for anyone who only wants a few.
Families planning to enter the competitive exhibits have a much tighter deadline than the fair itself. Exhibit intake is Sunday, Aug. 2, from 1 to 5 p.m. That is the window. Items come back home on Sunday, Aug. 16, also from 1 to 5 p.m., at the end of the fair's final day.
Hours change by the day
The Lions Club has posted three different daily schedules, so it is worth checking before you load up the car.
| Days | Gates open |
|---|---|
| Mon-Thu | 5 to 10 p.m. |
| Fri-Sat | 5 to 11 p.m. |
| Sunday | 2 to 8 p.m. |
The weekday close at 10 p.m. matters more this year than most. Gilmer Schools students go back to class Monday, Aug. 3, three days before the fair opens, which means the whole first week is school nights. The Sunday afternoon hours are the earliest of the run and the easiest slot for younger kids.
The $1 trick at the gate
Bring an old pair of eyeglasses or a used hearing aid to the gate and the club takes $1 off a single admission. It is a small discount attached to the reason the fair exists: proceeds go to Lions Club work, including its vision and hearing services and local scholarships for Gilmer students. Those glasses get cleaned, sorted and passed along to people who need them.
One armband at $30 pays for itself fast with a kid who rides everything. For a family that plans to walk through, eat, look at the exhibits and ride twice, individual tickets are the cheaper night.
Vendors and exhibitors
The club has three downloadable forms posted for the 2026 fair: a general exhibits application, an indoor exhibit application, and a concession application for food and vendor booths. Anyone hoping to sell at the fair or set up an indoor display needs to get the right one filled out and turned in. Details and the PDFs are on the club's official fair page.
The fairgrounds address will look familiar to just about everyone in the county. It is the same South Main Street property the Lions Club uses for the Georgia Apple Festival in October, which puts the fair's parking and traffic in a spot locals already know how to navigate. South Main gets busy at 5 p.m. on a weeknight anyway.
The club has not published a night-by-night entertainment schedule or a full list of rides for this year, and no separate parking fee has been announced. Exhibit categories and judging details are laid out in the application packets rather than on the main fair page. For families weighing which night to go, the practical answer is the first Sunday, Aug. 9, when the gates open at 2 p.m. and the midway is still new.
More Gilmer County event coverage, closings and community news is at Ellijay Georgia Community Website. Going opening night, or entering exhibits on Sunday? Join the conversation in our Community Forum and tell your neighbors what's worth the ticket. You can also read more local events stories and community news from around Ellijay and East Ellijay.
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