Prineville, Ore. – After weeks of uncertainty and mounting public speculation, the Crook County Fair announced Monday that it had finalized a last-minute agreement with Wold Amusements to provide carnival rides and games for this year’s event.
The announcement came just days before the fair’s Wednesday kickoff and was confirmed in a social media post from the Crook County Fairgrounds. Wold Amusements, a regional carnival operator based in the Northwest, will bring at least 14 rides and 6 carnival games suitable for a range of age groups. Just the day before the announcement, officials had been responding to public questions on social media, stating that there would be no rides, so the contract developed quickly.
Owners of Wold Amusements told the Prineville Review that the opportunity was sudden and that they had reached out to the Crook County Fairgrounds only last week.
The carnival will operate in a portion of the Fair’s General Parking area, and its hours will align with the general public hours of the fair: Wednesday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Unlimited ride wristbands are available for $38. Game credits and wristbands must be purchased directly through Wold Amusements and will not be available at the Fairgrounds Office or Info Booth. Purchases can be made online as well.
Fair officials confirmed to the Prineville Review that they had been exploring several options over the past month after an earlier agreement with another carnival vendor fell through. The absence of a carnival had become a frequent topic of concern among local residents, especially on social media.
Haley Crow with the Crook County Fairgrounds told the Prineville Review by phone that the staff had been working diligently behind the scenes to ensure families would still get the full fair experience, but that it’s often been hard to find a vendor that found it profitable.
“For several years now, especially since COVID, we’ve had a really hard time getting a carnival, because a lot of the ones that service this area went out of business during COVID,” said Crow. “Because we are a smaller fair, a lot of them just won’t; they’d rather route to a bigger fair with our same dates, just a little bit more profitable for them. So we really struggled every year.”
A full list of Wold Amusements’ rides and attractions is available at woldamusements.com/rides. The 2025 Crook County Fair runs August 6th–9th and also features livestock shows, concerts, food vendors, and the annual 4-H and FFA auction.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject mater expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
