The 93rd annual Grape and Fall Festival brought big crowds to the city’s fairgrounds for a weekend of festivities that included live music, livestock competitions and auction, carnival rides and a marketplace. The festival’s main attractions took place over three days, beginning Thursday, Sept. 10, and continuing through Saturday, Sept. 12, with activities throughout the weekend.

On Thursday, exhibitors from across the St. James area brought their livestock to the fairgrounds to be weighed in for the following day’s livestock competition. Thursday evening, Purple Lane and vendors opened up shop on the fairgrounds and provided food, drinks and other wares to festivalgoers. Carnival rides also opened Thursday and offered classic rides and games throughout the weekend.

The festival’s annual royalty pageant was also held Thursday. See the related story, “Murphy crowned 2026 Miss St. James,” in this edition.

Following Thursday’s activities, Nashville-based rock group The Faster Horses took to the fairgrounds’ main stage to end the day with a performance of classic and country rock covers. Musical performances followed each night, with Rolla-based Jordan Isakson performing Friday night and Columbia band, The House Band, playing Saturday night.

Parks and Recreation Director Kristy Rich said live music, along with an adjacent beer and wine garden, was added to all three festival days to bring a wider array of age groups and demographics.

On Friday, festival activities got a crack-of-dawn start with the livestock show, where 4-H and FFA members showed off their livestock, with the best awarded Grand Champion and Reserve Champion honors. A livestock sale followed Saturday, where prize-winning livestock were auctioned off, first to local individuals and companies. During the livestock sale, Intercounty Electric floored all hog sales at $6 per pound, meaning that any hogs that would have sold for less than $6 per pound were raised to that amount.

Champion and reserve champion livestock included Griffin John of Royal 4-H, who had the Champion Meat Pen of Chickens, which was bought by Interstate Livestock for $1,600; Fisher Ertl of Royal 4-H had the Reserve Champion Meat Pen of Chickens, which sold to Dynamic Solutions for $1,000. Kolby Fuhring of Royal 4-H received Champion Market Lamb for her 170-pound lamb, which was bought by Bouse Mercantile at $20 a pound for a total of $3,400; Darby Fuhring won Reserve Champion Market Lamb and Champion Rate of Gain for her 151-pound lamb, which BuildTec Construction bought for $13 a pound, totaling $1,963; Alana Nichols of Royal 4-H had the Champion Replacement Heifer, which weighed 1,120 pounds and was purchased by Larry Pinnell Scholarship for $7,500; Brooklyn Bouse of Royal 4-H had the Grand Champion Market Steer, which weighed 1,495 pounds and sold to Interstate Regional Stockyards for $11 a pound, netting Bouse $16,445; Cayden Jenkins of St. James FFA had the Reserve Champion Market Steer and Champion Rate of Gain for a 1,640-pound steer, which BuildTec Construction bought for $6.50 a pound, totaling $10,660; Kooper Lorts of Royal 4-H was awarded Grand Champion Market Hog for his 300-pound hog, which sold to Interstate Regional Stockyards for $8 a pound, totaling $2,400; Kinley Lorts of Royal 4-H was awarded Reserve Champion Market Hog for her 294-pound hog, which Bouse Mercantile bought at $14 a pound, totaling $4,116; Breyer Hancock of St. James FFA was awarded Champion Market Hog Rate of Gain for his 300-pound hog, which he sold to Gahr Truck and Equipment for $12 per pound, for $3,600 total.

Friday’s other events included a professional dog show, cornhole tournament and carnival rides, which attracted a large number of festivalgoers, resulting in crowded festival grounds. City Administrator Leeann Demouche said the fairgrounds were filled to capacity Friday.

On Saturday, the Grape and Fall Festival parade rolled through Jefferson Street, with floats made by local businesses and organizations, classic cars and tractors and the St. James High School marching band playing in step. The theme for this year’s parade was “100 Years of Grapes and Great Times.”

The day’s other activities included a Grape Stomp sponsored by St. James Winery, where competitors fought to see who could stomp out the highest volume of grape juice in 60 seconds, with the chance to win a bottle of grape juice from St. James Winery. Saturday also saw a performance by the Ozark Spirit Cloggers, who performed traditional percussive dances set to popular tunes.

The Wiener Dog and Other Breed Races also returned to the festival this year. Packed crowds lined the baseball field in Nelson Hart Park as more than a dozen wiener dogs and other breeds competed in a contest of speed. Grizzly, a wiener dog that won the previous two years’ races, returned to defend his title and won for the third year in a row.

St. James Mayor Rick Krawiecki, who spent much of the Grape and Fall Festival manning the concession stand’s grill, said he was delighted to see the fairgrounds buzzing with life.

“My favorite part is seeing the park full, and just seeing people out here enjoying themselves,” Krawiecki said.