About Graham Park
150 years of showing up for each other
Since 1867, these grounds have been where Olmsted County gathers — to celebrate the harvest, cheer on its 4-H'ers, do business, get married and simply be neighbors.
Graham Park began as the home of the Olmsted County Free Fair, one of the oldest continuously running fairs in Minnesota. From the first exhibitions of prize livestock and garden produce, the fair was built on a promise that still holds today: admission is free, so every family in the county can take part.
Over more than a century and a half, the grounds grew from a handful of open show rings into a 264-acre, year-round event campus — adding exhibition halls, the Four Seasons Building, the Graham Arena Complex and open-air pavilions, while keeping the barns, the grandstand and the traditions that make fair week feel like coming home.
Today, Graham Park is owned and operated by Olmsted County as a public asset. When it isn't hosting the fair, the grounds host hundreds of expos, weddings, markets, tournaments and community events each year — the everyday gathering place of Southeast Minnesota.
A county-owned public resource
Graham Park is a facility of Olmsted County, Minnesota, stewarded on behalf of its residents. Rental revenue and the annual fair support the grounds' upkeep and keep the Free Fair free — a shared investment in the community's front porch.
150 years, in brief
- 1867The Olmsted County Free Fair holds its first exhibition.
- 1900sPermanent exhibition halls and livestock barns are built.
- 1970sThe Graham Arena Complex opens for year-round events.
- 2000sThe Four Seasons Building adds climate-controlled expo space.
- Today264 acres hosting 300+ event days a year for the county.
What the grounds stand for
- Free & open
- The fair has been free at the gate for over 150 years. Access for every family is the point.
- Well-kept
- Clean, safe, accessible facilities maintained to a public standard the county can be proud of.
- Neighborly
- A staff that treats your event — big or small — like it matters, because to your people it does.
Your event belongs here
Bring your people to Graham Park
Book a hall for two hundred or twenty acres for twenty thousand — and join 150 years of Olmsted County gatherings on these grounds.