Ottawa County Fairgrounds

We stayed at the fairgrounds rather than the state park in town to avoid paying entrance fees to the state park for two out of state vehicles. This fairgrounds park was similar to other fairgrounds in that the sites are loosely defined in a large open area (although $30 is a bit more than typical). We had both electric and water hookups and there is a dump station. Only a couple other campers on a weekend in mid-September. The fairgrounds are in the middle of town and the sites overlook a nice neighborhood with a little bit of traffic noise from cars driving on the neighborhood street The hosts were friendly, and we didn't need reservations, although you can make them. There are free showers, but the bathroom needed some attention with overflowing trash and many burnt out lightbulbs. There is a nice playground nearby and many locals walking through with their dogs (and not always cleaning up after them).

We stayed here versus staying in the much more crowded state park campground while exploring the cute town of Holland. Convenient access to Holland State Park, downtown Holland and the surrounding towns. Really enjoyed our stay. Hosts were very pleasant, knowledgeable about the area and gave us the perfect site. Yea, it is your typical fair park campground, but every site has lots of trees. We stayed on the July 4th weekend so it was probably a little more crowded than normal, but still had a lot of sights available. We will definitely return!!

This was a very interesting camping spot as there weren't really any official sites. We check in at the trailer home that is just outside the arena gates. You could basically park wherever you want and just string your power to one of the many power poles. There was also water near the power poles. There were two dump stations; one for grey water only and one for grey/black. The grey/black station was near the little red shed on your way in.

There were only a few campers when we arrived and several came in/out during the week. Overall it was very quiet. There was plenty of shade under all of the large trees. There were large fields around the arena for walking and playing with dogs. The cell service was great and we were able to work on video calls without issue.

We would definitely come back as it was a nice experience and close to town.

We stopped at a county park last night and people were packed in like sardines with no availability. We had to sleep at a FlyingJ. Anyways we started looking a little earlier today. And stumbled in here after finding on campendium. We were a little worried everything was gonna be full but we got here and there were only about 6 campers. It felt awkwar because sites arent well defined and the office isnt well defined. We drove through ince, wanted to stay, worked up the courage to approach the mobile based on soneone elses post and yeah the guy was meeting us at the door. $30 and just feel free to park anywhere within reason. So we tried to park away from other people and didnt even think about the fact that all the tables were moved to central area (for winter i suppose). Anyways, also no fire rings. So we moved near a table and used portable grill. Finally bathrooms were large but clean (toilets and sinks were ploshed, refuse recptacles empty, and whileolder they were fine for us. Overall just glad to be in park like setting without 1000s of other people.

We stayed here for 2 nights in August of 2022. I had looked online prior to arriving and there were 100+ sites available so I did not reserve.
Most important: as you enter the fairgrounds there is a red building on the right. Stop and call the phone number to arrange for a site. If you just drive in & start to select an area to camp in, the host will come find you, tell you you should have called the number to reach him and assign you a spot. We watched a van pull in & pick a site way away from us, host went and got him & moved him to a site not far from us. Why? He also made a bit of a production of assigning us a spot with his wife. Why?
The good: quiet, trees, a giant dog park! Great place to base from to explore Holland (prettiest downtown ever!) and the area around. Water & power. Dump station & a dumpster kind of behind some fair buildings.
The not as good: they had just had a big picnic so there was a lot of trash on the ground.
The interesting: the host being so “in power”. I just thought it was odd. The sign with the phone number looked really dated, so we really had no idea if it was current.
All in all - good!

Having RVs at this fairground seems like an after thought and some of the sites I wouldn't dare to put a fifth wheel (or at least anything larger than a small trailer) in. The trees have not been maintained to allow for overhead clearance in some places, making our exit difficult. There was an area in front of our site with construction fencing and no trespassing signs. The elliptical racetrack area was behind us and it also looked to be under construction.

The utilities were interesting. They were groups of electrical boxes and outlets every few sites, spigots were grouped together and interspersed, and gray water dump was available in a few locations.

The dump station was accessible for our tote tank, but I wouldn't drive our fifth wheel down that dirt path due to overgrown limbs and muddy conditions. Some of the sites designated for camping on the outer portion would have been impossible for us to get into due to low hanging wires and tree limbs.

The sites near the office/entry were on uneven ground. We chose the first space with a concrete pad (105) and it was decent for our fifth wheel. I wouldn't want to venture too much farther into the campground with the rig.

They did have tennis courts on site and a playground for the kids that seemed decently maintained. No one was in the office, so we couldn't ask any questions (like where in the world was the dumpster located) and everyone came to us asking questions when we were outside.

We got 10 down/18 up on Starlink. 4 bars on the Verizon phones and 5 bars with the cell antenna. AT&T was 5 bars with the cell antenna.

Clean and spacious campground at fairgrounds, but you share the electric and water poles with other campers. We were with friends, so a non issue, but saw others searching for site numbers and leaving. Site numbers are imbedded in the pavement and not easy to find. Cell service for Verizon was 5G. Did not use the facilities.