Nine fairs, one county, August to October
Lancaster County carries nine of the 122 events in this directory, more than any other single county in Pennsylvania. The next closest are Westmoreland and Blair with five each.
The county's run is heavily back-loaded. Only two listings start before September. The other seven open between September 12 and October 5, which makes Lancaster the strongest single-county destination in the state for a late-season weekend.
Mid-August: the Renaissance Faire opens the run
The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire opens in Manheim on August 15 and runs all the way to October 25, the longest window in the 2026 directory. It is tagged cultural, family, artisan and food-festival, with crafts, food, kids' activities and live music listed.
The Elizabethtown Fair follows August 24 to 29, the county's first traditional agricultural fair of the year, listing animals, competitions and food.
Mid-September is the busiest stretch
September 12 brings the Whoopie Pie Festival in Ronks, a single-day event and one of only two on the whole state calendar. If you want it, it is that Saturday or nothing.
Two agricultural fairs then overlap almost exactly. The Denver Fair runs September 15 to 19 in the county's northeast, and the Southern Lancaster County Fair runs September 16 to 18 in Quarryville, at the opposite end of the county. Both are within a comfortable drive of each other, so a Wednesday-to-Friday stretch that week can cover two fairs.
Late September: Ephrata and West Lampeter
The Ephrata Fair runs September 22 to 26 and is one of the few Lancaster listings carrying a food-festival tag and a parade alongside the usual animals, competitions and food.
The West Lampeter Community Fair overlaps it, running three days in Lampeter from September 23 to 25. That gives you a genuine two-fair Wednesday or Thursday if you want to see how a large borough fair and a small township fair differ in the same week.
Harvest fairs close the county out
The New Holland Farmers Fair runs September 30 to October 3 and is tagged seasonal as well as agricultural, with a parade listed.
The Manheim Community Farm Show follows October 5 to 9, the last Lancaster County opening of the year. Manheim is the only town in the county with two listings on the 2026 calendar, since the Renaissance Faire is still running there through October 25.
Just over the county line
Lancaster sits in the middle of the Dutch Country Roads region, and four neighboring counties add a lot of choice, particularly in the months when Lancaster itself is quiet.
Berks County to the northeast carries four: the Kempton Fair June 18 to 20, The Berks County Fair in Leesport July 8 to 11, the Kutztown Fair August 3 to 8 and the Oley Valley Community Fair September 17 to 19.
York County to the southwest carries three, spanning the season: the Mason-Dixon Fair in Delta July 6 to 11, the York State Fair July 24 to August 2, and the Dillsburg Farmers Fair October 12 to 17, which is the final opening on the entire statewide calendar.
To the west and north, the Lebanon Area Fair runs July 25 to August 1 and the Gratz Fair in Dauphin County runs September 13 to 19. To the east, Chester County adds the Kimberton Community Fair July 20 to 25. Adams County adds the National Apple Harvest Festival October 3 to 11, which slots neatly between New Holland and Manheim.
How to build a weekend out of this
If you only make one trip, the September 12 to 26 window is the strongest. It covers the Whoopie Pie Festival, Denver, Quarryville, Ephrata and West Lampeter, five of the county's nine listings inside two weeks.
If you are coming for the Renaissance Faire, note that its window is long enough to pair with almost anything else on this list, including the two harvest fairs in New Holland and Manheim in the first week of October. Always confirm daily hours with the individual fair, since the date ranges here describe the run, not the gate times.
Seven of the nine run in a seven-week block
Lancaster County does not spread its fair season out. Seven of the nine fairs here open between August 24 and October 9, and four of them fall inside September alone: Denver Fair September 15 to 19, Southern Lancaster County Fair September 16 to 18, Ephrata Fair September 22 to 26, and West Lampeter Community Fair September 23 to 25.
That produces two genuine either/or weekends rather than a tidy run. Denver and Southern Lancaster County overlap on September 16 to 18, and Ephrata and West Lampeter overlap on September 23 to 25. If you want to see all four, the only way is to split each pair across a weekday and a weekend.
The two that break the pattern
Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire is the exception to everything else on this page. It runs weekends from August 15 to October 25, eleven Saturdays and eleven Sundays across about ten weeks, so it overlaps every single community fair in the county rather than competing with any one of them.
Manheim is the only town here hosting two events, the Faire and Manheim Community Farm Show, which runs October 5 to 9 and closes the county season. Whoopie Pie Festival in Ronks is the shortest entry at a single day, September 12, and the only one built around a single food rather than a full agricultural programme.
