Sponsored Content
Five days of PRCA rodeo, concerts and 4-H return to the Kitsap fairgrounds Aug. 26
Published 8:50 pm Sunday, August 2, 2026
Jefferson Starship and Alli Walker headline the Main Stage at the 2026 Kitsap Fair and Stampede, with Xtreme Bulls closing Sunday
The gate swings open and the count starts: eight seconds, one hand in the air, nothing to hold but rope.
Bronc riders chase that buzzer four nights running when the Kitsap Fair & Stampede returns to the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Bremerton Aug. 26 to 30, five days that pair professional rodeo with livestock barns, main stage concerts and a full midway.
This year the fair also marks America 250, folding the country’s anniversary into traditions the association has kept going for more than a century.
Full PRCA sanctioned performances run Wednesday through Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Thunderbird Arena and Saturday at 5:30 p.m., with barrel racing, steer wrestling and bull riding on the card.
Trick rider Cortney Clabaugh brings a specialty act to the arena throughout the week, hanging off a horse at speed in a discipline that lands somewhere between gymnastics and horsemanship.
A rider works for the eight-second buzzer in Thunderbird Arena. Xtreme Bulls, a bulls only PRCA performance, closes the fair Sunday at noon.
Sunday belongs to Xtreme Bulls, a bulls only PRCA performance that starts at noon.
Two Main Stage concerts are included with fair or rodeo admission. Jefferson Starship plays Thursday at 9 p.m., bringing the catalogue behind “Sara” and “We Built This City.”
Country artist Alli Walker takes the same stage Saturday at 9 p.m. with “I Like Big Trucks” and “First Time Living.”
Away from the arena, the barns fill with animals raised by local farmers and 4-H youth, Presidents Hall holds arts, crafts, foods and handmade work, and the Pavilion is given over to commercial exhibitors.
An exhibitor walks two young visitors through a stitch in Presidents Hall, where arts, crafts, foods and handmade work fill the tables all week.
Kettle corn, corn dogs and funnel cakes handle the rest. Each booth and barn traces back to somebody in Kitsap County who spent the year getting ready for this week, which is the part fair manager and COO Dorrie Berning keeps coming back to.
“The Kitsap Fair and Stampede is all about community,” Berning says. “From 4-H exhibitors to community stage performers to local vendors and hundreds of volunteers, our event is great thanks to our community. It’s time for our neighbors to celebrate all that is Kitsap.”
The junior livestock auction, the pie judging, the youth jazz band and the dancing horses all run alongside the rodeo, and gates open at 10 a.m. daily.
Find schedules and advance tickets at kitsapfair.org or call 360-286-2319.
The Kitsap Fair & Stampede runs Aug. 26 to 30 at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds, 1300 NW Fairgrounds Rd. in Bremerton.
Follow Kitsap Fair & Stampede on Facebook for updates and more!