While agricultural fairs were held in Walkill, NY as early as 1843, in 1857 the Agricultural Society established the fair at its current site. A horse racing oval was constructed. In 1919 that oval was used for the first time for an automobile race, and fans loved it. From that time forward, the Orange County Fair oval has been the scene of dirt track auto racing, and is the nations’s oldest continually operating dirt track. The annual Orange County Fair attracts tens of thousands, and is held during the later half of July.