Meet Me at the Fair: Great State Fairs
State Fair Fun
For many people in the United States, State Fair time is a rite of summer. From grandstand shows to prize animals and vegetables to food on a stick, there’s something about a state fair that people love. But of all the fairs that are out there, which is the best? Well, that may just depend on what you’re looking for. I offer the following state fair suggestions.
If you want to . . .
Start the year off at a state fair: Florida. The Florida State Fair is held annually in February. Yes, that’s right, February. So if you just can’t wait until a summer fair rolls around, head south in the winter and enjoy the Florida State Fair before you turn too many calendar pages.
Florida State Fair
Spend time with a couple hundred thousand of your neighbors: Minnesota. The Minnesota State Fair broke an attendance record in 2009, with 1, 790,497 visitors during its 12-day run. Daily attendance often tops 200,000 on the weekends of the fair. When they call it “The Great Minnesota Get-Together,” they’re not kidding.
Minnesota State Fair
Plan a class field trip to the state fair: Kansas. With its Kansas Largest Classroom program, the Kansas State Fair plans itineraries and activities for classrooms to visit the fair as an educational setting.
Kansas State Fair
Find an affordable outing: South Dakota. With admission for adults at $5 a day or $20 a week (kids cost even less), family plans of $15/day, and free admission after 8 p.m., the South Dakota State Fair is good fun at a great price.
Piglets at State Fair
See some really big vegetables: Alaska. A world-record 127-pound cabbage was entered at the 2009 Alaska State Fair, and it’s not uncommon to see other record-breaking fruits and vegetables at this fair.
Produce at Alaska State Fair
Visit a fair that’s been around for a long time: Michigan. Claiming to be the nation’s oldest state fair, the Michigan State Fair, was first held in 1849. That’s a lot of blue ribbons ago!
Michigan State Fair Ribbons
Plan your day at the fair ahead of time: Oregon. At the Oregon State Fair website, you can browse all the goings-on and add your favorites to your “My Can’t-Miss List.” It’s a great idea for those who don’t want to miss a thing at the fair.
Oregon State Fair
Have plenty of opportunities to see the fair: Texas. Running 24 days, the Texas State Fair allows plenty of time to get to the fair. In its past, it’s run even longer: 31 days for the state’s sesquicentennial in 1986 (with almost 4 million visitors). Yes, everything really is bigger in Texas, and the state fair is no exception.
Texas State Fair Ferris Wheel
See a rodeo: Wyoming. The rodeo is so much a part of the fair in Wyoming that it’s part of the title: The Wyoming State Fair and Rodeo. If rodeo’s not your thing, don’t worry; they have all of the usual fair fun as well.
Wyoming Rodeo
Go to one last fair this year: Arizona. The 2009 Arizona State Fair runs from October 16-November 8, so after you’ve seen all the other fairs, you can head to Arizona for one last fair experience. After that, you can enjoy the holidays before heading to Florida to start all over again!
Arizona State Fair
Visit the most famous state fair: Iowa. Iowa Tourism, via twitter, informs me that the original novel “State Fair” was based on it, followed by three motion pictures and a Broadway musical. People who aren’t even from Iowa let me know that the Iowa fair deserves to be on this list. Their state fair is indeed a great state fair!
See a great 4-H Education Area: Indiana. According to IndyStateFair on twitter, Indiana is also known for its Pioneer Village, Hot Air Balloon Race, Dairy Bar, and Little Hands on the Farm. Sounds like a fun fair, doesn’t it?
Ride the Flume at the end of October: Greater Gulf State Fair. They tweeted me to let me know they also have great food, and some Mobile, AL, tradition with the Azalea Trail Maids.
Do you have a favorite state fair? Favorite fair activity or food? Share your state fair memories below!
Photo credits (in order of appearance): Benimoto on flickr; me_ram on flickr; Deacon_Steve on flickr; ercwttmn on flickr; ercwttmn on flickr; ricardo.martins on flickr; jessiesgirl614 on flickr; eyeliam on flickr; Big C Harvey on flickr; Wellington Grey; andrew.petro on flickr.
Linda (minnemom) has been crazy enough to take her four kids to the
Minnesota State Fair the past two years. This year they went twice.
She writes about their travel adventures at Travels with Children.
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13 Responses
Thanks for this awesome round-up. For a non-American living here, this is a great list of state fairs – the dates and historical comments are welcome details. Right, I’m off to start planning some long weekend trips to visit some of these fun events.
And if anyone reading this is in Washington in late Sept, you can “do the Puyallup” and check out our state fair
I’m partial to the Minnesota State Fair, but someday I’d love to do a state fair tour to see what all the others have to offer.
I love the Minnesota State Fair. I used to go when I was younger and have since taken my kids.
The Minnesota State fair is amazing and not to be missed. I look forward to it every year. You have to see the butterheads!
I love the fair. Don’t know if there is a summer past that I’ve missed on. Grew up going to the Vermont State Fair and now go the the Agricultural Fair here on Martha’s Vineyard.
I can’t believe you didn’t include the Iowa State Fair! It’s listed in 1000 Things to See Before You Die and has 2 movies, a musical & a book (State Fair).
Agriculture rules in Iowa and we have almost everything here. Animals are the main focus. And all is so kid friendly. Check out my own Uptake blog post: http://attractions.uptake.com/blog/iowa-state-fair-desmoines-5146.html
I have to agree with Jody, and I don’t even live in Iowa! It is a great fair, Martha Stewart even did a whole article on it one year. Love the food options – blue plate specials, funnel cakes, lamb burgers, corn dogs, giant pork chops (yes, a little heavy on the meat) – plus all the great 4H and fair stuff, like quilts, photography, cooking demonstrations, pig calls (back to the pork).
Oh, we went one year and my daughter was a baby. She wore her little watermelon dress, it was so cute!
Wow! It looks like I really missed Iowa as a great fair. I’m putting it on the “should have been in this post” list, as well as my “hope to get there someday” list.
Any others I missed?
What and honor! The staff at the Kansas State Fair work hard to ensure Kansas has a Fair all Kansans can be proud of! It is like a jewel in the prairie!
what fun!! i love the creativity that goes into fairs. great photos!
Thanks for including the Arizona State Fair! We think we have a great fair too – offering sooo much value just for the price of admission, especially this year. We have more discounts than ever before so it’s SUPER affordable and you still get the same great entertainment. azstatefair.com/discounts
Thanks for this. I’ve actually argued with many folks about which State Fair is the best. Naturally, I say that the MN State Fair is the best despite the fact that I’ve never been to a different fair
Ha ha ha. This is helpful because I, along with Linda K., hope to go to them all someday. Also agree with Jody and Gudrun – No mention of Des Moines fair is a little odd.
You seem to be missing the Wisconsin State Fair…it’s consistently ranked as one of the top in the nation, and it IS all-around awesome.