La Plata County Fairgrounds

The fairgrounds has a small gravel parking lot across from the arena for 6 RV sites. Sites share a power box (there are a couple with 50 but most only have 30 amp). Water is also shared and can be far from your RV depending on which site you are in, especially site 6. Our splitter was leaking so we just filled our tank to allow the neighbors to be able to use the water.
The lot is next to the very busy maintainence building, so there is a lot of traffic coming and going at all hours. Main street is far enough away for traffic noise not to be a big issue.
Sites are surprisingly large so you are not right on top of your neighbors. There are no sewer hookups and no dump station but we used the free dump a few miles away at Santa Rita Park.
The best part of staying there is the location, just a short walk to the Animas River trail behind the fairgrounds. We walked along the paved trail about a mile and a half to downtown a few times, and to City Market a half mile away, and biked the entire 7 mile trail a couple times. There are three breweries within walking distance! Right next to the RV lot is the wonderful Durango Recreation Center where you can pay a daily fee of $6 (or $4.50 over age 60) to use any of the facilities. The fitness equipment is state of the art and the pool and showers very nice.
This is a reservations only park so be sure to call ahead Monday thru Friday only as the office is closed on weekends. They will give you directions as it's a bit hard to find.

Stayed one night at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. It's a nice spot, centrally located, with water and electric (utilities are "wrong side," we went in nose-first to accommodate but have a small rig).

The campground is in-between the rodeo grounds and a maintenance building. It's rather bright through the night due to the maintenance building flood lights.

Good spot for one night. Though the seasonal opening is April-October, warmer weather had allowed them to open early (we stayed mid-March).

Be sure to check out the Durango Craft Spirits tasting room downtown. Lots of great restaurants in downtown Durango, too.

Little did we know pulling in that you must have reservations and they must be made M-F during business hours. That said, with no reservation they were very accommodating and let us post up for the night. Quiet and perfect for access to downtown and intown trails.

UPDATE 6/2018.

It’s $25 / night to stay here now. This place is not what most folks might consider “special” but Durango is an extraordinary town and this will put you right in the heart of it. Also, during the 416 fires, they let locals who were evacuated stay here, hooked up, for free. That’s good people.
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"This is the worst campground we've ever stayed at," I mention, high on months of amazing free camping and recreational chocolate. Two days later, at my son's birthday request, we've returned. It's actually not the worst ever. There's a plug and a playground and the proximity to town is nice...for a big shale parking lot. Women were riding horses in the coral, always a beautiful sight.

There are no showers or bathrooms, but the rec center is $6 / adult and has all that and much more.

Durango is one of our favorite towns in these United States, too, which is saying a lot about us. Your results may vary like the president'a opinion on soldiers.

Note that the reservation situation is avoidable but risky...if you just duck in after hours, at any moment the reservees may show up. Don't be a crunchy noodle, plan ahead!

A couple of cloudy days and I needed some recharging. I was there only Saturday night and there were lots of loud cars cruising through the nearby parking lot until pretty late, and maintenance got started pretty early.

As others have said, you have to make reservations, and they can only be made during business hours, M-F. The fees have increased to $16.50.

The great part of this spot is its proximity to the amazing Rec Center (same parking lot) where, for just $6 you can take classes, work out, swim, hot-tub, and, of course, shower. It is also right off the Animus River Trail which is easy bike access to all of Durango.

This is a GREAT town! Wonderful restaurants and natural food stores (3 - Natural Grocers, a co-op, and Nature's Oasis), shops, the famous Durango to Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad, and lots more.

The "campground" itself is just a gravel lot tucked in between the rodeo ring and maintenance. There wasn't anything going on at the rodeo ring, but maintenance was busy pretty early in the morning.

Also, paying was a bit weird - like they've never had anyone get there on weekend before - she said to slip a check under the door, but, of course, it's cold here, so there's ample weatherstripping. I ended up giving it to the guy who was emptying the trash.

Oh - and there are open bathrooms across the fields if the Rec center isn't open.

We needed to electricity, 4G and water. They had it.
Just a couple days to get some work done and it was efficient.

We were first in for the day. Back-in sites but hookups on the passenger side. Water comes thru a frost free pump. It’ll do for filling the holding tank.

Fairly level gravel lot.

Right next to Recreation area so if you’re outside you can hear kids playing. But also access to the river side paved trail.

Efficiency camping.

Stayed here while visiting my cousin in Durango... great place to stay if you need a spot in town, basic 30amp power only, no sewer... staff was very nice to deal with

Safe & secure location. The fairgrounds work crews are noisy, because the camp sites are right next to crew shed.
Fairly quiet at night though.

Ditto to others. It’s a gravel lot. Piles of horse poop around since they rodeo here. Workers are noisy but we slept fine. Elect and water. Real good part is the bike trail is right behind us. We rode bikes all over town. Durango is very bike friendly. Animas Trail is about 7 miles long along the river with several really nice parks.

This is a great location for anything you want to do in Durango. It is right next to the River Trail bicycle trail which gives you access to downtown, restaurants, shopping, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railraod, groceries, library (free wifi) and more. We stayed here for 4 days in our 24' bumper pull trailer and once we parked, we never drove the truck again. This is right next door to the rec center and for $5 per day you can use their facilities (gym, hot tub, pool).

There are 6 gravel spots with power and water. Very quiet and safe, except for one evening. It is close to the High School so the local kids were racing their trucks and revving their engines. They stopped after about an hour.

Angela at the La Plata County Fairground office that you need to make a reservation with is really nice and helpful. She told us about her favorite places around town and things to do from a locals perspective.