50 Fun Facts About State Fair

Which state held the first U.S. state fair, back in 1841?

That first fair drew crowds for two days in September and has been held annually ever since. It still ends on Labor Day.

In which upstate city was that first 1841 state fair held?

The fair moved around for decades before a land company donated a 100-acre tract next door in Geddes in 1890.

State fairs were originally created in the 1800s to promote what?

The early fairs were competitive livestock exhibitions and farm-product displays; the rides, concerts and fried food came much later.

Which state's fair drew the largest total attendance in the U.S., more than 2.5 million people in 2019?

The fair runs 24 days in Dallas, which helps it rack up the biggest overall gate even though a smaller fair beats it on average daily crowds.

Which state fair has the highest average attendance per day, at just under 200,000 people?

The fair in Falcon Heights crams its crowds into twelve days ending on Labor Day, which is why its daily average tops everyone else.

How tall is Big Tex, the cowboy statue that greets visitors to the State Fair of Texas?

The current version weighs 25,000 pounds and is engineered to stand in 100-mph winds without guy wires.

Before he became a cowboy in Dallas, the original Big Tex figure was built in Kerens, Texas, as what?

The 49-foot Santa was made from iron drill casing to lure Christmas shoppers to the small town, and Kerens still calls itself the Birthplace of Big Tex.

What happened to the original Big Tex on October 19, 2012?

The blaze started in an electrical panel under his right boot and consumed the statue within minutes. A new Big Tex debuted the following September.

Fletcher's, a State Fair of Texas fixture for decades, is famous for which food?

Brothers Carl and Neil Fletcher introduced them at the fair sometime between 1938 and 1942, one of several rival claims to inventing the corn dog.

The Red River Rivalry, played each year at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair, pits Texas against which school?

The stadium sits inside Fair Park, so fans walk past the midway and Big Tex on the way to their seats.

The Texas Star Ferris wheel, which debuted at the 1985 State Fair of Texas, was built in which country?

SDC Corp. built it in Reggio Emilia for $2.2 million and shipped it to Dallas, where it stayed the tallest wheel in North America until 2013.

Which creation won Most Creative at the State Fair of Texas Big Tex Choice Awards in 2010?

The contest has crowned fried food since 2005, when a fried peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwich took Best Taste.

Abel Gonzales Jr. introduced Fried Coke at which state fair in 2006?

The frozen Coca-Cola-flavored batter is deep fried and then topped with Coke syrup, whipped cream and a cherry, at roughly 830 calories a cup.

The Iowa State Fair's famous butter cow has been sculpted every year since what year?

J.K. Daniels carved the first one; it lives in the Agricultural Building and is joined each year by a companion sculpture on a new theme.

The first Iowa State Fair, staged in Fairfield in 1854, was run on what budget?

The fair has been on its permanent Des Moines fairgrounds since 1886 and drew a record 1,182,682 people in 2024.

How long do candidates get on the Des Moines Register Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair?

The soapbox is a rite of passage before the caucuses, and hecklers are part of the deal.

Finnegan, who set the Iowa State Fair Big Boar record in 2024, weighed in at what?

The crossbred boar beat the previous record by 85 pounds. The fair also runs contests for the biggest ram, bull and rabbit.

Iowa's Butter Cow Lady, Norma 'Duffy' Lyon, also carved a butter version of which artwork?

Her other butter subjects included Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Garth Brooks and a Harley-Davidson before she retired in 2006.

In the 1932 novel State Fair, what kind of animal is the Frakes' prize entry Blue Boy?

The book spawned three films and a Broadway show; Blue Boy is a Hampshire, a breed known for its white belt.

Which song from the 1945 musical film State Fair won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?

Jeanne Crain's character sings it while moping around the farm before the family leaves for the fair.

Which is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical written directly for the movies rather than the stage?

It finally reached Broadway in 1996, padded out with songs borrowed from other Rodgers and Hammerstein shows.

The 1962 remake of State Fair moved the story from Iowa to which state?

Pat Boone and Ann-Margret starred, and the family drives through Dallas, where the real fair is held.

How much does the block of butter carved into Princess Kay of the Milky Way's likeness weigh?

The dairy princess poses for several hours, and each of the finalists gets her own butter head too.

Sweet Martha's, a legendary state fair stand in Falcon Heights, sells what by the bucket?

The buckets are served warm and overflowing, and regulars pair them with all-you-can-drink milk from a nearby stand.

The New York State Fair's Dairy Products Building bar sold a record 403,189 cups of what in 2012?

The building also houses an 800-pound butter sculpture, a tradition at the fair since 1969.

What pastry, sold since 1924, is the Wisconsin State Fair's most popular food?

The Wisconsin Bakers Association runs the bakery in the Dairy Building, and the treat celebrated its 100th fair in 2024.

The first butter cow ever displayed at a state fair appeared in 1903 at which state's fair?

A.T. Shelton & Company, distributors of Sunbury Creamery Butter, sculpted a cow and calf; the fair still unveils a new companion sculpture each year.

The first Ohio State Fair, in October 1850, was held at Camp Washington in which city?

The fair had been planned for 1849 but a cholera outbreak forced a delay, and autumn dates were chosen to lessen the risk.

Raleigh's Dorton Arena was the first building in the world to use what?

Its saddle-shaped roof hangs in tension between two parabolic concrete arches, a design that inspired arenas from Yale to Tokyo.

Besides Cal Expo in Sacramento, where is California's only other remaining monorail?

The Sacramento monorail was designed by Swiss firm Habegger and built in 1968, the year the fair moved to Cal Expo.

How much did Scott Robb's record cabbage weigh at the 2012 Alaska State Fair?

The Matanuska-Susitna Valley's near-endless summer daylight is why the fair is famous for absurdly large vegetables.

The Big E in West Springfield serves as the state fair for how many New England states at once?

Its Avenue of States features life-size replicas of each of the six original statehouses, plus the New England Grange House.

The DuQuoin State Fair, once host of the Hambletonian, is the second official state fair of which state?

The primary fair is in Springfield; the state took over the struggling southern fair from private owners in 1986.

William Morrison, who co-invented machine-spun cotton candy in 1897, worked in what profession?

He teamed up with confectioner John C. Wharton, and another dentist, Joseph Lascaux, later patented a rival machine in 1921.

Under what name was cotton candy sold when it debuted at the 1904 World's Fair?

Australia still uses that name, while the UK calls it candy floss.

Before designing his famous wheel, George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. worked in Pittsburgh as what?

The Rensselaer Polytechnic graduate saw the growing market for structural steel and used it to build a ride that spun 36 cars.

The fairground word 'midway' comes from the Midway Plaisance at which 1893 event?

It was the first world's fair to wall off its amusements from the exhibition halls, and the name stuck across the U.S. and Canada.

National Corndog Day is held on the first Saturday of what?

The holiday started as a college-basketball watch party tradition and spread from there.

Funnel cake, a fair staple served under powdered sugar, was developed in America by which group?

They developed the baking-powder version around 1879 from an older yeast dish, though the idea traces back to medieval Persian zalabiyeh.

Which of these is NOT one of the four H's that give 4-H its name?

The fourth is Head. Members pledge their head to clearer thinking, heart to greater loyalty, hands to larger service and health to better living.

The 4-H emblem, designed in 1907, is a white letter H on each leaf of what green plant symbol?

O. H. Benson designed the green clover, and the youth program itself traces to A. B. Graham's club in Clark County, Ohio, in 1902.

The signature jacket of FFA members showing livestock is made of what fabric?

The official colors are national blue and corn gold, and the group was Future Farmers of America until a 1988 rename.

At a U.S. state fair, a blue ribbon on a pie or a heifer means it took which place?

Confusingly, in Britain, Canada and New Zealand blue often goes to second place and red to the winner.

In Charlotte's Web, what is the last word Charlotte weaves into her web at the fair?

Templeton the rat scrounges the word from a scrap of newspaper; Wilbur misses first prize but wins a special award from the judges.

Which Arkansas farm woman made Dreaming Iolanthe, the butter sculpture shown at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition?

Her butter bust started a fad that state fairs and dairy promoters ran with for the next half century.

Which 1960s car is so tough it is still banned from most demolition derbies?

The 1964–66 models earned near-legendary status for crashworthiness, which is exactly why other drivers refuse to face them.

Which Wichita, Kansas manufacturer created the Zipper midway ride in 1968?

Joseph Brown designed it, 222 were built through 2001, and the company announced in 2025 that it was putting the ride back into production.

The original Ferris Wheel, unveiled in Chicago in 1893, was designed to rival which structure?

At 264 feet it fell well short of the tower, but it carried 2,160 riders at a time and around 38,000 a day.

In a fair demolition derby, how is the winner decided?

The idea took off at New York’s Islip Speedway in 1958 after promoters noticed fans preferred the wrecks to the racing.

Where does Charlotte the spider die at the end of Charlotte’s Web?

She lays her egg sac there and stays behind while Wilbur and Templeton go home; Wilbur carries the sac back to the barn.