Maybe we hit it at the wrong time but having been in many fairgrounds and convention centers across…read morethe US I found this one kind of run-down, confusing, and badly laid out. We came to the Ozark fairground to see an RV show, first I arrived a bit misled by both the fairgrounds and the RV show operators. The pictures they used to promote the event came from some other fairground and did not match this location. We happened to attend an RV show in Louisville about a month ago, for $8 per person. It was a million square feet of RVs and boats in a beautiful facility with interactive displays, tons of food options, and food trucks in a well-lit, air-conditioned facility. I wasn't expecting this in Springfield however, for a $15 entry they should have been embarrassed. None of the food stands or restaurants on the grounds were operating, one bad hotdog stand inside was that did at least have good fries for $10. The building inside was confusing with smallish halls shooting off in odd directions, making it impossible to walk through to see all the booths and rigs in an orderly way. Most of the RVs that were supposed to be there on the outside of the main building were not present at all. When we asked we were told the venue told the vendors to remove them all from the ground, so we got to see half of what we expected and the small interior meant the vendors had to cut back on what they brought to the show. I'm told they had to move the show so maybe the original location was better suited for the event, I don't know. However, the grounds themselves needed to be in better repair, terrible parking on semi-dirt-covered pothole-infested asphalt. Part of the grounds were going through construction on open sewage which made being outside physically palatable in the air and on your tongue of sewage. Just putting it all together was a disappointment. Did we have fun? yes, we know how to enjoy wherever we are. but that does not excuse the poor facilities, overpriced entry for the quality of venue and size (5 dollars might have been ok), terrible grounds, everything is closed, and underserving the event.

This fairgrounds was nice for the North American Diving Dog National, Barn Hunt National and an AKC…read moreDog Show. Lots of parking for events. Plenty of walking spots for the dogs throughout the day. I've never been here for the actual fair, but for our events it's been good. Would definitely go to dog events here in the future.