Facility Calendar

The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota, USA. The fair has carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment. The fairgrounds are located along Burdick Expressway in east Minot. 

Featured Concert : Motley Crue

Hailing from Los Angeles, CA, Mötley Crüe — Vince Neil (vocals), Nikki Sixx (bass), Tommy Lee (drums) and Mick Mars (guitars) — has commandeered the rock pantheon for 40+ years and since 2023 continues to do so with John 5 on guitar. The band has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, garnered 7 USA platinum and multi-platinum albums, 22 Top 40 mainstream rock hits, 6 Top 20 pop singles, 3 Grammy nominations, 5 New York Times best-selling books, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Netflix hit movie. Mötley Crüe continues to tour the world with John 5 on guitar as they push the limits of live performance.

The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota, USA. The fair has carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment. The fairgrounds are located along Burdick Expressway in east Minot. 

Featured Concert : Lil Wayne

A game-changing artist and celebrity, Lil Wayne began his career as a near-novelty -- a preteen delivering hardcore hip-hop -- but through years of maturation and reinventing the mixtape game, he developed into a million-selling rapper with a massive body of work, one so inventive and cunning that it makes his famous claim of being the "best rapper alive" worth considering. Born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and raised in the infamous New Orleans neighborhood of Hollygrove, he was a straight-A student but never felt his true intelligence was expressed through any kind of report card. He found music was the best way to express himself, and after taking the name Gangsta D he began writing rhymes. Combining a strong work ethic with aggressive self-promotion, the 11-year-old convinced the Cash Money label to take him on, even if it was just for odd jobs around the office. A year later, in-house producer Mannie Fresh partnered him with the 14-year-old B.G. and dubbed the duo the B.G.'z. Although only B.G.'s name appeared on the cover, the 1995 album True Story has since been accepted as the B.G.'z debut album both by fans and the Cash Money label. The 1997 album Chopper City was supposed to be the follow-up, but when Wayne accidentally shot himself in the chest with a 9mm, it became a solo B.G. release. That same year, he officially took the moniker Lil Wayne, dropping the "D" from his first name in order to separate himself from an absent father. He joined B.G., Juvenile, and Young Turk for another Fresh project, the teen hardcore rap group the Hot Boys, who released their debut album, Get It How U Live!, in 1997. Two years later, Cash Money would sign a distribution deal with the major label Universal. Mainstream distribution would help that year's Hot Boys album Guerrilla Warfare to reach the number one spot on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 1998, Lil Wayne would appear on Juvenile's hit single "Back That Thing Up," or "Back That Azz Up" as it appeared on Juvie's album 400 Degreez. Wayne would launch his solo career a year later with the album Tha Block Is Hot, featuring the hit single title track. It went double platinum but the rapper was still unknown to Middle America, since his hardcore rhymes and the rough Cash Money sound had not yet crossed over. His second album, Lights Out (2000), failed to match the success of its predecessor but it did go gold, and with an appearance on the Big Tymers' hit single "#1 Stunna," his audience was certainly growing. While Fresh was primarily responsible for launching his career, Wayne was now much closer to Fresh's fellow Big Tymer and Cash Money CEO Birdman. When Juvenile left the label, Wayne -- or "Birdman Jr." as he was calling himself -- showed his allegiance to his CEO by releasing an album with a title much hotter than Juvie's breakthrough effort. 500 Degreez landed in 2002 and while it went gold, rumors began flying about Cash Money's financial troubles and possible demise. The rest of the Hot Boys had defected and Wayne's planned 2003 album was scrapped, coming out instead as an underground mixtape called Da Drought. Wayne became enamored with the mixtape world after Da Drought drew so much attention from the hip-hop press. He used these underground releases to drum up anticipation for his next official album, the breakthrough effort Tha Carter. Released in 2004, the album seemed familiar on one hand with Mannie Fresh's production, but the Wayne on the cover was a dreadlocked surprise, and the rhymes he laid on the tracks showed significant growth. His marketing skills had become sharper, too, and it was no mistake that the album's hit single, "Go DJ," mentioned hip-hop's greatest tastemakers right in the title. It reached number five on the singles chart, and with a guest shot on Destiny's Child's number three single, "Soldier," Wayne had officially crossed over. On the flip side, his street cred was supported by a slew of mixtapes released in 2005, including the popular titles Dedication with DJ Drama and Tha Suffix with DJ Khaled. Cash Money's future was no longer in doubt and traditional music business rules no longer seemed to apply, as tracks would be leaked onto the Internet and various DJs' mixtapes. "Get Something" was another bold move, as a Universal-funded video was made without the track ever seeing official release. With his alternative marketing scheme working in overdrive, the 2005 landing of Tha Carter II was a major event, selling over a quarter-million copies the week of its release. "Fireman" and "Shooter" with Robin Thicke were released as singles, while the album -- which for the first time featured no Mannie Fresh productions -- went platinum. It also introduced his Young Money posse, with appearances from Currensy and Nicki Minaj, and initially came with a bonus disc featuring Wayne's greatest hits screwed and chopped by Swishahouse DJ Michael "5000" Watts. A year later he collaborated with Birdman for the Like Father, Like Son album, featuring the hit single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy." His mixtapes were still flooding the underground, including the stunning Dedication 2, which came with an iconic image of the rapper on the cover plus the much talked-about track "Georgia...Bush," a venomous response to President George W. Bush's handling of the Katrina disaster. With no official follow-up to Tha Carter II in sight, numerous collaborative tracks kept the rapper in the mainstream with "Gimme That" by Chris Brown, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe, and "Duffle Bag Boy" by Playaz Circle becoming three of the biggest hits. Tha Carter III was promised for 2007 but didn't arrive until a year later, setting off Wayne's infamous reputation of delayed releases. Part of the problem became unauthorized leaks of the album's tracks, something combatted by the official, downloadable EP The Leak released that same year. Preceded by the number one hit "Lollipop," Tha Carter III arrived in May of 2008, selling more than a million copies in its first week of release. An appearance on Saturday Night Live and four Grammy Awards -- including Best Rap Album -- spoke to Wayne's mainstream acceptance. He also performed at that year's Country Music Awards with Kid Rock, but rather than rap, he played guitar. The guitar playing was part of Wayne's new involvement with rock music, including his help in signing Kevin Rudolf to Cash Money plus an appearance on Rudolf's massive hit "Let It Rock." His planned rock album was previewed with the 2009 single "Prom Queen," but when the album failed to meet its promised April release, the music press began to portray the rapper as the king of missed street dates. Unconcerned, Wayne forged ahead with his Young Money crew, releasing the underground mixtape Young Money Is the Army, Better Yet the Navy, the aboveground single "Every Girl," plus the official album We Are Young Money that same year. His rock album, Rebirth, would finally appear in early 2010, which coincided with Wayne being sentenced to a nine-month prison term for criminal possession of a weapon. The rapper may have been behind bars on Riker's Island, but that didnGÇÖt stop his ten-song EP, I Am Not a Human Being, from seeing the light of day in September 2010. Tha Carter IV was finally released in 2011 along with its lead-off single "6 Foot 7 Foot." The album reached the top spot on the Billboard 200. In 2013, unfazed by criticism that a controversial verse he contributed to Future's "Karate Chop" -- he made a reference to Emmett Till, a black teenager gruesomely murdered in 1955 by white men -- was in poor taste, Wayne released a second volume of I Am Not a Human Being. The album debuted at number two and featured the singles "No Worries" and "Love Me." A sequence of singles intended for the repeatedly delayed Tha Carter V ens

The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota, USA. The fair has carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment. The fairgrounds are located along Burdick Expressway in east Minot. 

Featured Concert : Turnpike Troubadours

Everybody loves a good comeback story. After releasing five genre-defining albums and building a fiercely loyal fanbase, Turnpike Troubadours — the Tahlequah, Oklahoma kings of Red Dirt music — all but fell apart in 2019, taking a three-year hiatus to find clarity amidst the noise of a red-hot career. But after the break, something remarkable and even unprecedented happened: the band returned more popular than ever. Not to mention stronger. The proof is in the group’s sixth studio album, A Cat in the Rain. Produced by three-time Grammy winner Shooter Jennings and recorded at the legendary FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and in Los Angeles, the 10-song album is a tale of reliability, rebirth, and redemption. It’s the story of brothers — frontman and chief songwriter Evan Felker, fiddler Kyle Nix, steel player Hank Early, guitarist Ryan Engleman, bassist RC Edwards, drummer Gabe Pearson — six musicians who ran the gauntlet of success, scrutiny, and even personal troubles, and would fight tooth and nail for one another. Turnpike Troubadours’ fans can feel this. That bond is in the band’s songs and in their live performances — they’ve racked up 1.5 billion streams globally and are selling out arenas and headlining festivals. Still, to some, they remain a mystery…the most popular band they’ve never heard of. But with A Cat in the Rain, that’s all about to change.

The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota, USA. The fair has carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment. The fairgrounds are located along Burdick Expressway in east Minot.

Featured Event:  MHA Indian Relay

The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota, USA. The fair has carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment. The fairgrounds are located along Burdick Expressway in east Minot.

Featured Event:  Sawyer Brown

EVENT DETAILS
Sawyer Brown: It’s hard to know where to start when talking about Sawyer Brown. More than 4500 shows and counting. More than a million miles behind them and still seeing the highway miles click by outside their bus window. Twenty-three albums. More than 50 chart singles. CMA, ACM, and CMT awards on the shelf. To pull a line from one of the band’s enduring hits: “This is the life and times of a travelin’ band.” A traveling band, indeed. Always on the move—on the road, on stage, and in their career. When asked about what keeps him motivated on the road, lead singer Mark Miller says, “It’s playing the next show. Be grateful for where you’ve been and be excited about where you’re going.” The band’s live shows are legendary. Having been described as “the Rolling Stones of Country Music,” the band bounds onto the stage night after night, delivering its own unique brand of high-energy entertainment, and the band remains a perennial favorite at fairs, festivals, theatres, and casinos. That excitement has been on display since the very first time Sawyer Brown stepped foot onstage in the early 1980s. Beginning as the road band for another singer, Sawyer Brown broke out on their own playing everything from clubs to pig roasts in those earliest days. “There’s no such thing as a gig we wouldn’t take,” Miller laughs, remembering the beginning of the ride. “We knew that we wanted to play music and we knew that we wanted to work at being the best live band there was—and the only way to do that, was to get out and play shows. And so we did.” The band has earned its place as one of the premier live acts in music. The band began by playing 275-300 nights a year for the first decade or more of its career—and has never come off the road. Tireless road warriors, the band thrives on playing live. “Live is where it all comes together for us,” keyboardist Hobie Hubbard says. “The audience brings its own energy, we bring our own energy and the music—and the combination of all of that is what makes playing live so unique. We’re blessed to be able to be a part of those moments night after night.”

The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota, USA. The fair has carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment. The fairgrounds are located along Burdick Expressway in east Minot.

Featured Event:  MGK

EVENT DETAILS
MGK is a GRAMMY-nominated multi-platinum recording artist who is an atomic force in music, entertainment, film and fashion. In 2020, the Cleveland, Ohio native eclipsed genre expectations releasing a Rock/Pop Punk album, the widely acclaimed Tickets to My Downfall. The platinum album topped the Billboard 200 and became his first No. 1 effort. Tickets to My Downfall landed 18 tracks on the Hot Rock Songs chart and spawned two No. 1 songs on the alternative side with “bloody valentine” and “my ex’s best friend,” which both went platinum. In 2022 he followed with mainstream sellout, his second album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 cementing his status as a chart-topping artist. The album was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award for “Best Rock Album” and was supported with a sold-out stadium and arena North American and Europe tour. The US leg ended in his hometown of Cleveland at the FirstEnergy Stadium playing to 50,000 fans, making him the first and only Ohio native to sell out the stadium. As of 2022, MGK has had a record 45 entries on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, the most among any solo artist. For his contributions to music, he was named as one of 2022’s Time 100 Next, a list honoring the emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. The genre-bending icon has amassed numerous awards over his career including “US Artist About to Go Global” at the 2012 MTV EMA’s, MTV’s 2012 “Breaking Woodie” Award, 2013 “Woodie of the Year,” “Favorite Rock Artist” for the 2021 and 2022 AMAs, “Top Rock Album” and “Top Rock Artist” for the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, 2020 and 2021 MTV VMA’s for “Best Alternative Video,” a 2021 iHeart Radio Award for “Alternative Rock Album of the Year” and 2022’s “Alternative Artist of the Year.” He’s appeared on Saturday Night Live, The Voice, The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Ellen, The Kelly Clarkson Show, BET’s 106 & Park, Good Morning America, The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and several other programs and award shows.

The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota, USA. The fair has carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment. The fairgrounds are located along Burdick Expressway in east Minot. 

Featured Concert : Thomas Rhett

Hold onto your cowboy hats, because Thomas Rhett is rewriting the country music rulebook! Ten years after signing with Big Machine Label Group’s The Valory Music Co., this arena-packing superstar has racked up an impressive streak of 21 No. One singles, making him the reigning monarch of consecutive hits. His latest album, WHERE WE STARTED, isn’t just music; it’s a demand for a massive crowd, according to Esquire.

Declaring him a “prince in the genre,” USA Today couldn’t be more accurate. With eight ACM Awards, two CMA Awards, and a handful of GRAMMY® nominations, Thomas Rhett is more than a hitmaker; he’s a decorated general in the country music army. But that’s not all – he’s also the mastermind behind Dos Primos, a tequila brand offering Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo variants. Move over, Nashville; Thomas Rhett isn’t just making music; he’s turning each sip of Dos Primos into a chart-topping experience!

The North Dakota State Fair is an annual state fair held each July in Minot, North Dakota, USA. The fair has carnival rides, agricultural expositions, government and commercial exhibitions, and a variety of musical and performance entertainment. The fairgrounds are located along Burdick Expressway in east Minot. 

Featured Concert : Lainey Wilson

As the most nominated artist at the 2023 CMA Awards with a record-breaking nine nominations, and five wins including Entertainer of the Year, Lainey Wilson has earned the enthusiasm of the industry. Critically acclaimed and touted as a top “artist to watch,” to being the leading female nominee and winner at the 2023 ACM Awards and CMT Music Awards, the Louisiana native has made a name for herself in the industry as one of music’s hottest and most buzzed-about new artists. Landing her first No. 1 with her PLATINUM Certified ACM Song of the Year, “Things A Man Oughta Know,” nearly 10 years to the day after leaving her small farming community in a camper trailer to chase her dreams, she has won over legions of fans with her signature Bell Bottom Country sound and aesthetic, which blends traditional Country with a modern yet retro flare. A prolific and sought-after songwriter (having co-writer credits on songs by artists including Luke Combs, Flatland Calvary, Ashley McBryde, Jackson Dean, Ashley Cooke, Mackenzie Porter, and more). With a rockstar stage presence, her artistry has taken her across the globe, performing for sold-out crowds throughout the US, UK, and Germany with notable names like Jon Pardi, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Jason Aldean, and more. Earlier this year she achieved her third and fourth No. 1 songs with “Heart Like a Truck” and HARDY collaboration “wait in the truck”. Her most recent singles, “Watermelon Moonshine” and “Save Me” with Jelly Roll topped the Country charts marking her fifth and sixth No. 1’s, making her the lead female artist with the most No.1’s this decade. Her critically acclaimed album, Bell Bottom Country, rose up Billboard’s Top Album Chart and Country Albums Chart, amassing over 700 million streams to date and has earned her the title of CMA and ACM Album of the Year and a Grammy nomination for Country Album of the Year.  Wilson made her acting debut in Season 5 of the smash hit series “Yellowstone” as a musician character named Abby, where she premiered her original “Smell Like Smoke” as well as showcased other hits off her recent album including “Watermelon Moonshine” and “Hold My Halo”. Adding to her growing list of endeavors, Wilson was honored at Billboard’s Women in Music Awards with the Rulebreaker Award, and most recently joined forces with Wrangler as the face of their 2023 fall/winter women’s collection.