Central States Fair Campground

Actually getting there: Although the address is on San Francisco St., where you park isn't. The best thing is to use the address for the James Kjerstad Event Center as it is the big building across from the CG. If you are coming from I-90 you take Exit 59 then head south for about a mile on LaCrosse St then turn left and go almost to Cambell St where you'll see the entrance. Go in and pick a site. Best idea is to THEN take your toad/truck over to the office, or, if you have a paid reservation, call to have a maintenance person come to unlock the electric box. We made reservations to arrive on a Sunday so no-one was there. We boondocked for the night (though we could have water we didn't bother hooking up that night) and they gave us a night's credit. The office will be on the left almost at the end of San Francisco St. Amanda K is the person in charge of booking and is very nice and helpful.
OK now for the CG. We had plans to see the Black Hills but no real clue as to where we wanted to be based AND we knew we needed to do laundry and groceries so booked one night at the Central States Fairgrounds. Looking at the place on Google Maps it looked like a big parking lot. It is. But it is really convenient and it's mostly quiet at night (an occasional train.) It's in the full sun so great for solar but with 50amps you can run your a/c or heat, in our case. Cambell St becomes 79 which takes you to Custer State Park (we also stayed there at Grace Coolidge) or you can hop on I-90 and head to Spearfish to drive through the canyon. Rapid City downtown is a 5 min drive and a fun city with plenty to do. Security drives through the CG every so often. The only time it would not be available is if there is a big event going on.
We had 3 bars of ATT (4-5 boosted) The sites were level, dirt with nice grass areas between them. All drive thru and though not really spacious big enough that there is plenty of space between sites, especially if there are only a few people there. We ended up staying for 4 days because it was so convenient and we couldn't beat the price. Even with the lack of "luxuries" we'd recommend this CG if you want to spend some time in Rapid City and/or can't get into a CG at Custer State Park.

Made reservation on internet for 3 nights. Decided to stay longer due to holiday weekend. This campground is basic and on fairgrounds property. It is close to most everything one will want to visit! (Take the backroads to the parks, drive Spearfish Scenic Byway).

Ashley was very nice and patient with us and Paul was on spot with his helpfulness. It has electric and water. One can choose 30 or 50 amp. Bathrooms are a bit farther than we are used to, for tenters this could be a deal breaker. We have a shower on board but used theirs as the dump station is located near the RED barn and not at one’s site. Showers are hot.

We totally enjoyed the Roping Trials for Free! Great creek and bicycle path right there.

Also I would like to add that the folks of Rapid City are genuine as we had to have our car worked on and met the most generous folks.

Thanks!

Staff in office very friendly and responsive. Sites are basic, grass a bit overgrown. But for our purposes (just wanted a place centrally located) it was fine.

One thing though... the sites share one water connection between each two sites. No splitter provided, so you’ll need to provide your own if you want water.

Very nice basic campground. But for the price I can’t really complain it was super convenient to everything that we wanted to do. It did seem to be a little bit overgrown the grass need to be cut and you have to share the water with the camper on the other side of you which wasn’t a huge deal because it wasn’t very busy. Overall we are very happy with this campground and would definitely stay again.

A little campground with water/electric only; dump station down the road a bit. Full sun and road noise all day/night, park away from the street if you can. There are bathrooms with a key-code entrance. Grass could use mowing but sites are generally clean. Trash is around but not picked up often enough.

If you happen to get there just after a horse show/event it will stink for days afterward so be prepared or check the schedule. Also, if it rains you're in for puddles for days.

Water and electric only 30 amp $30 50amp $50 a bit much so we used 30 amp and one ac some road noise. Several people would come in after the office closed at night and leave before they opened. Large grassy area for dogs not fenced very basic. Great if you are here to take in sights not spend time in a resort. The spaces are very long at least 150 feet we have a 40 rv , rzr, and gmc dually end to end room to spare

Got here on a Sunday. Luckily I found a couple power boxes unlocked. A noisy place with the street and even had a train nearby last night. Nice grassy spots and they have put in 4 way splitters at each hydrant. San Francisco gate was not open but the Centre St gate was.

Major roads close by so street noise till 11pm or so. Train goes by about 12a or 12:30a. Many pull thru sites. Water and electricity but no sewer. Dump station about 1/2 mi sw of campground. We drycamped 4 days. Shower house a good hike from cg. Could have trouble driving to it during event days at the fair.. You need an access code to use it. The toilets and showers are ok but not much privacy to take shower or change clothes, one bench out in open.

Only 4 RVs there middle of Sept. There were horse and cattle in pens but smell wasn't bad.

Camp host from near where we lived in California high desert, enjoyed talking with him.

We pulled in and dumped. Noticed the water wasn't marked potable or not so we asked and was told all the water here is city water. We made sure to mark the post that it is potable. All the faucets are connected . We did not camp here.