Thursday, October 1, 2026
When autumn arrives on Long Island, there’s one sure sign the season is full swing: the return of the Long Island Fair.
Each year, Old Bethpage Village Restoration transforms into a bustling 19th-century county fair, where blue ribbons, livestock, handmade goods and old-fashioned competitions take center stage. It’s part history lesson, part family outing and part good, old-fashioned fun — a chance to trade the rush of modern life for the sights, sounds and pastimes of another era.
And while the fair looks back, its appeal remains decidedly current.
Now 184-years-old, the Long Island Fair is a longstanding community event powered by hundreds of volunteers who help set up and staff exhibits, booths and tents, demonstrate traditional crafts and keep the fairgrounds humming throughout the weekend.It’s also an opportunity for just about anyone to get in on the action.
“The Long Island Fair is a one-of-a-kind family friendly event,” says Fair Director Gary Haglich. “It’s presented as a traditional country agricultural fair with open competition for all age groups, in classes such as home gardens, needlework, hobbies, horticulture and culinary. Visitors also enjoy a variety of entertainment, historical craft demonstrations, educational experiences, games, and contests, as well as livestock displays and old time Base Ball.”
Gardeners, cooks, crafters, farmers and hobbyists are invited to enter their work in the fair’s friendly competitions. Thousands of exhibits are submitted each year, spanning an impressively eclectic range of categories — from pickles, jams and jellies to flowers, fruits, veggies, and more. Livestock, culinary creations and hobbies all vie for blue ribbons; there’s even a junior division for kids.
The fair is more than a nostalgic recreation, however. It holds a distinction that makes its history especially significant: It is the official New York State-recognized county fair for Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties.
For visitors, the weekend offers a front-row seat to a Long Island that existed long before smartphones, shopping centers and today’s tech-obsessed lifestyle.
Throughout the grounds, skilled craftspeople demonstrate trades that once were everyday necessities. Watch wool being spun, brooms being made and candles taking shape. Blacksmiths work metal, weavers demonstrate their craft and timber framers showcase the techniques used to build homes and barns generations ago.
Younger fairgoers can join the action with corn-husking contests and potato sack races. Also the Flying Horses Carousel — a replica of a 19th-century folk-art carousel — provides a colorful spin through the past.
Naturally, animals are a major attraction. The livestock barn is filled with cattle, sheep, goats, horses, rabbits and other creatures, offering families an up-close look at the animals that were central to rural life. History also comes alive through Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, who set up an encampment at the Village and present scheduled riding and shooting demonstrations.
The entertainment lineup keeps the atmosphere lively, too. Period musicians and dancers share the grounds with children’s performers, brass bands, fiddlers, circus acts, a carnival sideshow and a comic ventriloquist. Visitors can also catch reenactments, an equestrian drill team and much more.
Another fall tradition is, of course, post-season baseball. It is always fun for fairgoers to watch the end-of-season championship matches of the nationally renowned Old Time Base Ball Leagues, an Old Bethpage Restoration institution. The teams represent actual Long Island clubs from the latter half of the 1800s.
It’s an eclectic mix — and that’s precisely the charm.
The Long Island Fair’s story began in 1842, when it was founded as the Queens County Agricultural Fair and held on vacant lots and local farms. In 1886, it moved to a permanent home at Old Country Road and Washington Avenue in Mineola. By 1899, it was known as the Mineola Fair.
The fair continued to evolve with Long Island. It moved to Roosevelt Raceway in 1953 and, in 1970, found its current home at the newly opened Old Bethpage Village Restoration. At that point, it was renamed the Long Island Fair.
Today, the fair has come full circle — in a manner of speaking. It is held on a recreation of the original Mineola Fairgrounds, tucked within Old Bethpage Village Restoration’s 200 acres.
In an age of ever-faster everything, the Long Island Fair offers something refreshingly different: a chance to slow down, look around and enjoy a little bit of the past — complete with blue ribbons, barnyard animals, handmade treasures and plenty of fairground fun.
Some traditions simply know how to stick around.
