The 182nd Cattaraugus County Fair opens Saturday, with featured entertainment including a performance by Tracy Byrd and Alex Miller on Tuesday and a Flatland Cavalry concert on Wednesday.

Tickets for the fair are on sale for gate admission as well as all grandstand events at ETIX.com. Grandstand events include:

– Saturday, July 26 – CS Pulling Series Truck/Tractor Pull

– Sunday, July 27 – Broken B. Rodeo

– Monday, July 28 – Demolition Derby

– Tuesday, July 29 – Tracy Byrd concert (with Alex Miller). Byrd has charted more than thirty hit singles in his career, including eleven additional Top Ten hits. He has also released ten studio albums and two greatest-hits albums. Number one hits include Holdin’ Heaven and Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo. His second album, Ordinary Man, featured four singles that reached the top five on the country charts: “Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous”, “Watermelon Crawl” (also his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, at No. 81), “The First Step” and “The Keeper of the Stars”. 1996’s Big Love included the top five hit “Don’t Take Her She’s All I Got”, a cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “She’s All I Got.”

– Wednesday, July 30 – Flatland Cavalry concert (with John Hollier). For the past decade, Flatland Cavalry has built a reputation as “one of the most dynamic presences in country music” (Rolling Stone) with their signature “Easy on the ears, heavy on the heart” sound. In 2024, the sextet celebrated 10 years together with Flatland Forever, an album that pays tribute to their journey, revisiting fan favorites while introducing new songs that showcase how far they’ve come.

– Thursday, July 31 – WNY Pro Pulling Series

– Friday, August 1 – Monster Truck Rally

– Saturday, August 2 – Monster Truck Rally (1:30 p.m.) Demolition Derby (6:30 p.m.)

Daily gate admission is $15 at the gates, though $12 pre-sale tickets are available through the end of Saturday, July 26.

Among the offerings at this year’s fair is the Butterfly Kingdom, which hosts 200 to 300 hundred butterflies, including six different species. The educational exhibit shows a video of the life cycle of a butterfly from the egg to the adult butterfly and how to fix a broken wing. Feeding sticks are provided so fairgoers can feed and interact with the butterflies. Butterfly kits are also available so patrons can take home their own butterfly and watch the whole hatching process. The interactive exhibit will start Saturday, July 26, and be open from 1 to 8 p.m. daily.

Sea Lion Splash, featuring California and South American sea lions, takes place throughout the day. Sea lions will amaze the crowd as they balance balls, shoot hoops, dance, perform handstands and show their pretty smiles. The natural exhibit is presented in a tropical setting with rocks, palm trees, waterfalls, foliage and two pools.

The fair will also include pig racing from Swifty Swine. The pigs race for an Oreo cookie waiting on a silver platter at the finish line. For more information go to http://swiftyswine.com/home.htm. Assigned seating is available on the track or in the grandstand at ETIX.com.

The Dynamo Dogs ground act will take place several times during the day featuring trick dog show routines to Frisbee dog acrobatics. The Dynamo Dogs vary in both size and skill, and many have been adopted or rescued.

Also performing throughout the day will be magician Lance Gifford, who has performed for crowds across the United States for more than 30 years, as well as glass artist Ryan Gothrup, an educator of glassblowing for more than 15 years. After receiving his MFA, he spent six years teaching at the college level and for the past seven years has been using his mobile glass trailer to educate on location.