Bishop Events
Bishop is host to two major events each year, Mule Days and the Eastern Sierra Tri–County Fair, both of which occur at the city's Tri–County Fairgrounds. In the late 1960’s, outfitters, packers and other businesses that depended on tourism, wanted an event that would draw visitors to the Owens Valley to start off the backpacking season. Each year since 1969, Bishop Mule Days Celebration has taken place on Memorial Day Weekend. What began as informal gathering of a test of skills with a few hundred visitors has grown to attract over 30,000 visitors a year!
In the Celebration, over 700 mules compete in nearly 200 hundred events. Other highlights of the event include: concerts featuring country music stars, a parade, steer roping, barbecues, country dances, arts and crafts, and much more. Bishop is now known as the “Mule Capital of the World”.
The Eastern Sierra Tri–County Fair is a joint annual fair for Inyo, Mono, and Alpine County residents that takes place every Labor Day Weekend. It attracts more than 30,000 visitors a year. The old–fashioned fair includes: a concert on Friday night, rodeo, truck pull, a destruction derby, a petting zoo, circus, discovery science exhibit, and a carnival. The fair also features thousands of homemade and homegrown items, in which citizens of Inyo, Mono and Alpine Counties are eligible to compete. Quilts, baked and preserved foods, crafts, fine art, photos, flower arrangements, and fruits and vegetables are all judged and winners receive ribbons, trophies, cash or other great prizes.