Jefferson County Fairgrounds

I have been staying here for the past couple of months while rotating in and out of the 14 day limit at Point Hudson. I have to say, it's really declining quickly. Colder weather seems to be bringing in a lot of people living in their cars, which would not otherwise be a problem were it not for their foul language and boom box music that blares from the trunks of their cars.

But the really troubling part is the shower house. I couldn't figure out how one campground could accumulate so many "hair cookies" in the showers, and empty soap and shampoo containers. After all, the campground is 75% empty at this time of the year. Most of what is left is big rigs with sewer hook-ups, so how are the showers getting so much abuse?

Then I started watching...most of the people that park here in cars are only here for a few hours, long enough to use the showers. The campground allows non-campers to shower here for a $2.00 fee. This appears to be what is raising the sketchy-factor, in my opinion. Don't come here expecting to feel good after a shower...

We stayed here on Labor Day weekend. The "campground" is an open field with shared utilitiy posts. Grassy/dirt sites extremely unlevel. It was my fault as we read the information at the self-check-in board we found sites 2-18 listed as having water, electric, and sewer. We chose #14 and went ahead to set up. It took a few tries to get level, but once level we sped through the set up, pop-out, etc. procedure, only to find out when I attempted to plug in to the electric, the only electric was a 110 outlet, which they failed to fully describe at the check-in info. Instead of loading up and relocating to one of the cheaper W/S sites, we ate the $5 per night difference and stayed at #14 (it's great to have 8 145W solar panels for boondocking when you need it). The sites are stacked like cord wood, with skinny lanes between rows to make maneuvering a 40' bus a bit of an exercise. There are only a few picnic tables scattered among the sites, ours had none. No amenities (fire pit, patio, playground, etc.), just a field with some hook-ups but still a good base camp for the area if you do not plan to spend other than sleep time at the campground. There is a bit of a primitive shower/bath house, but it was clean. The price is the only incentive for us to stay here again. It appears there are several rigs here that are long term residents. The fairgrounds is at the outskirts of town in a bit of a run down section of town.

First oh all, thanks Watson Wanders for the heads up on odd parking arrangement in the W/E section . 4 rigs share a pedestal and section between rows is narrow. You could get trapped in your site if a combination of long vehicles were here and it was busy. Luckily we read their review and parked on the end.
No frills but close to Downtown Port Townsend. We didn’t use any facilities here except W/E. Internet fluctuates between 1 & 2 bars Verizon

Port Townsend is a busy little town and if are like us and didn't make a reservation at the state park or marina a year in advance, the fairgrounds are your best option. While not the most scenic location, we found it perfectly adequate and would not hesitate to return.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the site layout is strange and parking in the middle rows could result in you never getting back out. We parked in the first row and did not have any issues. The hook-up situation does leave a little to be desired as our water pipe was busted and we had to use our neighbor's connection to fill our tank a couple times throughout the week. The 20 amp power connection was not an issue for us as it was September and the thought of using our AC was laughable. Despite these issues, you really can't beat the $25 per night price for full hook-ups.

Finally, the location of the fairgrounds is what makes it so desirable. Only a short bike ride from the state park, a quick drive (or ride) into town, and right next to an extensive network of walking trails.

The Verizon signal was unusable, but AT&T was rocking it was 4 strong bars of LTE.

First off if you can plan ahead as was already mentioned, do it. The sites in the middle of the park are very close together and if it got full it would be very difficult to get a rig in or out. We parked on the last row with Power & Water and got in and out reasonably well. And yeah, it was only 20 Amps. If it would have been summer and we wanted to run our AC we would probably be out of luck. I can see it kicking out the breakers. The bathrooms were, IMHO, not filthy but definitely not spotless and not state of the art. I would have used the showers if I had needed to but I have a high tolerance. But we are self contained so we didn't have to use the facility and there is a dump station on site. We also only had 1 bar of Verizon but I have a Netgear MIMO antenna for my little Ellipsis MiFi and with it pointing north was able to get 3 bars and stream video and surf the net. Now some good things. It was very nice and quiet. Easy to get to from my home in Seattle. The grounds were clean and plenty of space to walk the dogs. Getting into town was so easy but parking can be a real drag; specially if you are driving your tow vehicle. I can really see the benefit of a Towed in this situation. If you do get there I can recommend the Silverwind for dinner ($$) and Elevated Ice Creme for dessert.

Convenient to Port Townsend and only a short walk to Fort Walton Park, this fairground camp ground was very disappointing. There are five rows with 7-10 sites per row. The first two rows are power/water/sewer (but only 6 of these sites had 30amp, the rest were 20amp) these are $25 per night; the second two rows are 20amp/water (@20 per night); the last row is dry camping (@$17 per night). There is a self-pay station and they accept personal checks (US and Canada). Note: there is a 10-day maximum stay; you have to leave for 48 hours but can come back and stay another 10 days.

The bathrooms were rather dirty, with overflowing trash cans, and one of the three showers (in the women’s room) was out of order. There was an underground leak that assured a small pond was always available next to our car. The internet signal was very weak; we have Verizon and had only one bar.

On the bright side, this location is only 10 minutes from the car & Big Rig ferry over to Whidbey Island.

We've never stayed in a fairground before, and this was fun. Port Townsend is an interesting and charming coastal town that is a nice change from generic tourist spots. The fairgrounds are only 1 mile from Fort Wardon, which hosts many summer concerts and music workshops, from blues to ukulele, as well as writing and woodworking workshops. We happened to be there during fiddle week and the campground was full of musicians practicing with each other. The local North Beach is an easy walk or bike ride from the fairgrounds and is a must for sunsets. Fort Wardon beaches are a better place to launch kayaks than North Beach (Fort Wardon is where the Juan de Fucha Straits change into the calmer Puget Sound), and you can rent some there as well. My husband had an orca check him out while kayaking. Check out Taps at the Guardhouse in Fort Worden for outside dining. Be aware that at the beach the wind is cold, even during a sunny summer day, as it blows off of the cold water, but the sun is strong. We were in the area for 2 weeks visiting our son in Seattle via the Bainbridge Ferry, but I was only able to reserve part of the time at Fort Flagler and was very anxious about where to camp next since it was July 4th week, so the fairgrounds were a godsend. Our spot was not level, but others might be. We had to use an adapter for our plug, which was only 110. The showers appeared nice and spacious. Simple dump station. Some tent sites next to apartments. Off-leash dog area. Very poor cell reception for Verizon, although you can sit in nearby Fort Worden and have 4 bars of 4G. You will need checks or cash to pay for your spot. Nice camp host. It was also an easy drive to the Hurricane Ridge section of Olympic National Park where we had a gorgeous 8-mile ridge hike. Food Coop, farmers markets, supermarkets, laundry, propane, restaurants all very close. Town is very bike friendly. Also a ferry to Whidby Island from the town, although we didn't get a chance to go. Our downtown Seattle-living son and girlfriend loved Port Townsend.

We read the other review here about this campground and decided to try it. Our rate was for full hookup, but they also offer electric and water for $20 and dry camping for $17. There were only a handful of 30Amp campsites, several are 15Amp but are supposed to be converted eventually. They supposedly have 50amp but those must have been taken. Also not all campsites accommodate big rigs, but we found one on the front row.

The campground is basically a grass field with no amenities but it does have a rest room and shower facilities. It was not very full at all while we were there, but the spacing between sites is pretty tight.

There is lots of grass around for walking doggies, and the location is only about 10 minutes driving distance to downtown Port Townsend.