ferriswheelFairJamestown (CSi) Fairgoers should mark their 2014 calendars with an earlier date for the Stutsman County Fair…it will be held one week earlier for at least the next five years. The Stutsman County Fair is scheduled July 2-5 this summer.

The Fair Board has now contracted with a different carnival for more rides.

Stutsman County Fair Board President Mike Williams says the fair has entered a five-year contract with Murphy Bros. Exposition, which will move the fair to the first week of July, guaranteeing 25 rides.

Murphy Bros. provided rides to the Stutsman County Fair from the 1960s through the ’80s or ’90s,

The Mighty Thomas Carnival, which has served the Stutsman County Fair for about 10 years, provided about 15 to 17 rides.

The fair board switched to the Mighty Thomas Carnival about 10 years ago when Murphy Bros. couldn’t come to the Stutsman County Fair because of a scheduling conflict with the Red River Valley Fair in Fargo.

Williams pointed out that having the Stutsman County Fair during Fourth of July week will also put it around the same time as White Cloud’s Birthday/Tatanka Festival.

Buffalo City Tourism Director, Searle Swedlund, says having the Stutsman County Fair, Tatanka Festival and Fourth of July events all in the same week will provide “a bigger experience for visitors to Jamestown.”

The Stutsman County Fair is scheduled July 1-4 in 2015, June 29-July 2 in 2016, June 28-July 1 in 2017 and July 4-7 in 2018.