Music, races highlight 2024 Du Quoin State Fair

DU QUOIN, Ill. — A variety of popular musical acts, a full slate of harness racing and motorsports and an array of food and product vendors will reflect all the tastes of southern Illinois for the 2024 Du Quoin State Fair.

The fair kicks off with the Twilight Parade on Aug. 23 and continues through Sept. 3.

“It’s a balance of nostalgia and new opportunities,” said Luke Davison, manager of the Du Quoin State Fair.

This will be the first fair for Davison as manager. The Du Quoin native has a history with the fair, having worked as a child and teenager during the Du Quoin State Fair and various grandstand events.

The slate of musical acts reflects the musical flavor of southern Illinois.

“We have a couple of artists this year who are on the ascent. One of them is a female country artist named Ashley McBryde,” Davison said.

McBryde has a slate of awards under her belt, including a 2023 Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and a 2022 Country Music Association award for Musical Event of the Year for her hit with Carly Pearce, “Never Wanted To Be That Girl.”

McBryde was nominated for the 2024 Academy of Country Music Award Female Artist of the Year and was also nominated for the 2024 CMT Video of the Year for “Light On In the Kitchen.”

“She has had a lot of success recently and we were really fortunate to be able to book her,” Davison said.

McBryde performs on Aug. 30. Tickets for the show are on sale through Ticketmaster.

Mitchell Tenpenny, the popular country singer and songwriter, with hits like “Drunk Me,” “Truth About You” and “At The End of a Bar,” opens the grandstand musical lineup on Aug. 24.

For fans of classic rock, The Marshall Tucker Band and the Eli Young Band will perform on Aug. 24, and Kansas performs on Aug. 29. Rapper Nelly will take the grandstand stage on Monday, Sept. 2, to close out the fair.

Davison said that an emphasis on agriculture underpins the fair, from the popular “Thank A Farmer” attraction, which features crops and livestock, to the livestock shows and horse shows throughout the fair.

“At the heart of what we do at the Department of Agriculture is the industry of agriculture,” Davison said.

Motorsports are a popular event on the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds and that includes during the fair itself.

ITPA truck and tractor pulls will be on the half-mile track on Aug. 26 and Aug. 27, starting at 7 p.m. both days.

On Aug. 24 and 25, the Indian Hill Mx motorbike and quad races will take over the half-mile track.

The grandstand motorsports schedule features USAC Silver Crown & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on Aug. 31 and the ARCA Menards Series 100 & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on Sept. 1.

Harness racing is one of the longstanding Du Quoin State Fair and Du Quoin State Fairgrounds traditions.

Trotting and pacing races will take place on the grandstand track Aug. 26-28.

Each day of the fair has a separate theme and Davison, the son of a coal miner, said Labor Day and the traditional Labor Day picnic at the fair is close to his heart.

“Labor Day is always a special day because it brings a lot of local residents out with their families,” he said.

“That is something that has been staged at the Exhibition Hall and they will have music and food, then those folks get to go out on the grounds and enjoy the last day of the fair with their kids. Labor Day is always a busy day out here.”

Another day that brings the crowds out and is special particularly for Jerry Costello II, the Illinois director of agriculture and a U.S. Army veteran, is Veterans Day, on Sunday, Aug. 25.

“That is always a very well attended event and one that is special for Director Costello and that’s a very special day at the fair for all of us,” Davison said.

A full list of events, vendors and fair information can be found on the fair’s Facebook page and at the fair’s website, https://dsf.illinois.gov/. The website also includes ticket information for the grandstand events.

“We are constantly updating our website and our social media and working really hard to make sure that the fair information is getting out to people,” Davison said. “We are working to put something into the Du Quoin State Fair that everyone can enjoy.”