CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The Ross County Board of Commissioners on Monday recognized Reagan Gilliland and Kooper Lambert as the 2026 Ross County Fair Queen and King, honoring the pair for representing the fair and the county throughout fair week.
The commissioners said in a Facebook post that Gilliland and Lambert “have done an outstanding job representing the Ross County Fair and our community throughout Fair Week,” praising their leadership and enthusiasm.
The 2026 Ross County Fair, the 82nd annual edition of the event, runs Aug. 8 through Aug. 15 at the Ross County Fairgrounds in Chillicothe, according to the fairgrounds. The fair’s queen and king contests are among its longest-running traditions: the Junior Fair Queen contest dates back to 1955, while the King contest was added in 1990, according to the fairgrounds’ published history.
The current fairgrounds site was established in 1944 on a former National Youth Administration camp, and the Ross County Fair itself traces its roots to an agricultural society fair first held in October 1833, according to the fairgrounds. Attendance grew from about 5,000 people in the fairgrounds’ first year to roughly 90,000 over fair week by the early 1990s.
Each year’s queen and king serve as ambassadors for the fair’s 4-H and Junior Fair programs, appearing throughout the week’s events and activities before being succeeded by the following year’s court.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Ross County Commissioners.
