10 Great State Fair Food & Fun Facts

When it comes to food and fun, it’s hard to beat a great state fair. While states celebrate their showcase events at different times throughout the year to display their state pride, August is a popular month for citizens to come together to form massive crowds. No matter where you live, check out these 10 great state fair food and fun facts.

1. In 2015, nearly 41% of the state’s population attended the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. Located approximately an hour north of Anchorage, the state’s largest city, the Alaska State Fair edged out North Dakota (39.6%) for the best percentage of attendance among all states.

2. The largest attendance at a state fair in the United States belongs to Texas, drawing nearly 2.5 million people annually to the fairgrounds in Dallas. Turns out, everything really is bigger in Texas, including Big Tex, a 55-foot statue outfitted in a pair of pants that weigh in at 65 pounds.

3. The largest per day attendance is at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul, which averages around 200,000 people per day. At Sweet Martha’s, one million cookies are baked fresh every day at a rate of 80,500 cookies every 12 minutes. They are then served by the bucketful.

4. Each September, an entire region converges on West Springfield, Massachusetts, for New England’s Great State Fair, more affectionately known as The Big E (short for the Eastern States Exposition). The 17-day fair represents the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

5. Dating back to 1841, New York boasts the oldest state fair in the country. An end-of-summer tradition for over 175 years, the 13-day event takes place in Syracuse and concludes annually on Labor Day.

6. Though not unique to the state or the first state to make one, a butter cow has been a staple at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines every year since 1911. Weighing in at 600 pounds, it still weighs in well under an actual dairy cow. The state fair estimates that the cow consists of enough butter for 19,200 slices of toast.

7. Held in Tampa, the Florida State Fair takes place in February and was once called the Mid-Winter Festival. The Sunshine State event boasts over 100 rides, including four different roller coasters.

8. Would you eat a burger sandwiched between two donuts and topped with onions and green peppers? That was one of the wackiest foods at this year’s Ohio State Fair in Columbus. Since 1944, a 14-foot tall animatronic Smokey Bear has been on display in the Buckeye State.

9. The Village of Yesteryear is a popular attraction at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh, where children can make their own dolls or stuffed toy to take home. The village consists of approximately 75 working artists who create heritage hand crafts made with skills passed down from generation to generation.

10. The Illinois State Fair in Springfield played an important role in the popularization of the corn dog. A drive-in restaurant in the Prairie State claims to be the first place to put the deep-fried dogs blanketed with corn meal batter on a stick.

What did we miss? Use the comment section below to tell us what you love about your state’s fair?