Itasca County Fairgrounds

$30 for electric service.
Some sites have shade, parking is on grass.
Single dump site, does not provide rinse water.
Fresh water is located next to shower / laundry facility.
Two male shower stalls. They are inadequate, having a rusty chair, absence of shelves and hooks. Gross is best word to describe filth in the shower. Checked on two different days, no change. Surprised the floor drain functioned in spite of huge ‘hair mass’ clogging the drain. Shower water flow is woefully inadequate. Can’t imagine date it was last cleaned.

07/01/21 to 07/08/21 Itasca County Fairgrounds - 42' 5th Wheel

WOW! What a surprise! How come no one has written about this place? A best kept secret for sure!

Huge Pine Trees...Grass...Water...Dump Station...30/50A Electric... a Lake...Big Rig Friendly (for the most part. There are scattered tall trees. No branches to worry about)!

Called at the last minute for a fourth of July weekend. The Fairgrounds Director answer's the phone (after hours!). What a jewel! She went above and beyond to help us with pictures and to see if a place was available for 50A electric. It's not in her job title but talk about customer service! She made it worth while to find this place!

If you're lucky, check out the Fairgrounds Events Calendar before arriving. We didn't know about it but there were stock cars races in the evening. Loud for sure, but fun!

This campground also has a bath house (currently no-pay showers) and pay laundry facility. Rates vary by what you need.

$15 Tent - No Electric
$20 Tent - Electric 20A
$25 RV/Camper - No Electric
$30 RV/Camper - Electric 30A
$35 - RV/Camper - Electric 50A

We are staying a week. For that, it is $210 ($35 a night for 50A. 7th night free). You will need to fill your water tanks at the bath house or just out front of that (2 separate locations available). Bring your own hose. If you are close, a 10' hose works. If you need to park farther away, you might need a 25' hose or so. For the LONGER rigs (only), once you come into the park, go past the self-pay station and far end of the maintenance building on the left. Then use their drive in front of their building to go back to the bath house. GO VERY SLOWLY past them as someone could step out at any moment. The water spigot is on the front side just left of the gas meter. The other water spigot is easier but the dirt/gravel driveway is still fresh. We are 20,000 lbs and sank down. Had to use 4-wheel drive to get up over the hill and out and then filled in our tracks. It could be a while to harden this surface. Smaller/medium rigs should have little issue for now and its the better choice for water fills.

Then, you'll need to find some space. Once you determine your space, fill out the envelope (available at the self-pay stand near the front) and leave your money in the red post next to the envelopes. If you are a boondocker or tent person who can do without electric, you'll spend less and still have a great time. Solar might be a little challenging with all the huge trees.

If you just need a place to dump your tanks, it's available without entering the camping area for $5. There is non-potable water at the dump station. Potable water is across the road and nearer to the bath houses (not sure if that is included with the $5 dump fee. Call to verify). It's FREE if you pay to camp. Oh...and there are currently additional port-a-johns in the camping area. Not sure if its always here or just for events, but its super handy if you need a place without walking to the bath house.

Town is very close by. In 5 minutes, there will be groceries, dining, hardware, auto supplies, etc. In front of this fairground, there is a lake.

Over-the-Air TV is plentiful. Point your antenna towards any of the following for different degrees: 41.5, 69.6, 32.2, 244.8, 218.5, 305, 346,114. The latter degrees are weaker signals and many may not be able to pick them up as well. We used 69.6 degrees for about 15 channels including Fox and CBS. Channel 5 is on an alternate degree.

Cell Service for Verizon customers is 2 bars without an Extender. Plenty fast for what we do. Calls all go through with no problem.

As for spacing here, it's park where you want to in most cases. Nothing is numbered. Electric pedestals are in rows. Some have 20A, some 30A, some 50A. Nothing is consistent. You'll just need to look around but there are plenty. This Fairground can hold a huge number of RV's (licensed for 100+). Just pull up some grass! Tonight, the 4-H Dog Show is after the Stock Car Racing!

GENERATORS: Probably not a good idea if you have one that produces a lot of heat (we have an Onan 6500W. It has a muffler that vents out to the side, but the downdraft fan air is very hot and will at least burn the grass if not catch grass on fire). You're parking in the grass. There is no where to park (at least in the actual campground) that is not grass. You can't very well put a portable in the roadway either. No one here has been using one. There may be a restriction being so close to the neighborhood. Best to call first and find out what the restrictions might be if you HAVE to have one. If parking over by the arena, it might be allowed, but...not sure there is authorization over there.

TRASH: For paid campers, there are waste receptacles available. Not sure about those here just for a dump. Again, check with the office first.

For sure, this is definitely a place worth checking out! It may not be a Forest Campground exactly, but we certainly think its way better than most! And you can't beat the conveniences or entertainment!

We'll give it a perfect 5 star review for what this is (it's not to be confused with a 5-star "resort" but just as fun). We don't give these often or lightly. For noise though, if you're here on the night the stock car racing is on, it would be best to be ready for that for a couple of hours (currently Thursday nights)! Get a nap ahead of time!

DIRECTIONS: from Hwy 2 in Grand Rapids, MN, head North on Hwy 38 (also called NW 3rd Avenue). Go about 8 blocks. Turn right at the brown County Fair Sign hanging (14th Street NW). Proceed about 1/2 mile to the round-a-bout. Go 3/4 the way around and take a right on Ridgewood Rd. The Fairgrounds entrance will be just as you come out of the round-a-bout (GPS 47.246315, -93.522745).

Itasca County Fairground Website: www.itascacountyfair.orge
Phone: (218) 326-6470

Happy Camping!