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There’s no more American summertime experience than a visit to a state fair. From blue ribbon pie-baking competitions to star-studded musical acts, state fairs have something for everyone.

These annual attractions draw millions to enjoy, not just their roller coasters, but also a region’s distinctive products and traditions.

Come along as we visit four state fairs that offer local culture, economic innovations, and lots of fun.

The Texas State Fair was started in 1886 by Dallas businessmen who brought people together to sell cattle, see the newest farming equipment, and hear notable speakers such as Booker T. Washington.

The fair expanded two decades later, when the city of Dallas bought the property and added features that would help draw 1 million visitors by 1916. 

Some remarkable innovations have premiered at the Texas fairgrounds.

A few years after the X-ray machine was invented in 1895, it was displayed here.

Cooking demonstrations in the early 1900s featured slow-cooker prototypes and just-invented refrigerators. Popular, if not particularly healthy, foods — funnel cakes, Frito pies, and corn dogs — were concocted for the first time here, too.

Today, the fair celebrates Texas ranching culture. Beef is one of the state’s largest agricultural exports, and annual events include rodeos and steer shows. Competitions gauge locals’ success in raising farm animals, assembling farm machinery, and even exhibiting archery skills.

Some 3,100 people applied to join 2024’s “Big Tex Youth Livestock Auction,” which raised $2 million for scholarships and prizes for Texas youth.

The first Iowa State Fair opened 1854 in the eastern town of Fairfield, before later moving to 450 acres in Des Moines. Twenty thousand people attended the fair’s first day.

A hub for innovation, the fair has provided memories for generations of Americans.

In 1908, the legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart saw an airplane for the first time here. In 1929, 15,000 Iowan children pooled their money to procure a baby elephant that would live on the fairgrounds for a decade. 

A few years later, Iowa’s fair featured stunts: staged train collisions, airplane “dog fights” and an intentional plane crash into a house that ended with a pilot fleeing actors posing as police.

It was Iowa’s fair that inspired the 1933 film State Fair, later adapted to a musical.

The trampoline, early computers, automatic dishwashers, Cracker Jack snacks, gasoline-powered tractors, vending machines, color televisions, helicopters, airplanes, radio broadcasts, and many agricultural innovations debuted or were exhibited at the Iowa State Fair. 

Fifty-eight thousand people enter the fair’s competitions each year. Livestock and quilting events, in particular, draw large international audiences.

Wisconsin’s first state fair in 1851 attracted 13,000 attendees. Organized by the state’s Agricultural Society as a means to bring innovative farming practices to local residents, that first fair displayed a 200-pound squash and featured oxen-plow races.

A few years later, as the state’s dairy farms flourished, a 600-pound wheel of cheese was displayed.

Around the start of the 20th century, electric lights were turned on at the fairgrounds, an innovation themselves and a way to extend the fair into evening hours events.

The 1910s brought auto technology to the fair, and the 1930s, football games, including the National Football League Championship (well before the first Super Bowl).

After World War II, record-breaking food items were offered, the largest cream puff and the largest block of cheddar cheese (weighing in at 40,000 pounds) among them.

Musical entertainment took center stage with acts like Diana Ross and the Supremes, Johnny Cash, the Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, and Garth Brooks.

A young John Muir, future National Parks advocate, premiered early inventions, such as the “alarm clock bed.” Other innovations displayed here include a 20-horsepower steam engine and the earliest fire engines.

And the first passenger airplane constructed in the U.S., “the Lawson Airliner,” was built in one of the fair’s exhibit halls.

Wisconsin is home to more dairy farms than any other U.S. state. Its 1.3 million cows produce milk needed by cheese makers. The state’s farmers also produce one of the top vegetable outputs in the country. 

In 2023, the fair premiered Ag Discovery Day, inviting students to explore Dairy Lane, an exhibit about the state’s dairy industry and encompassing animals housed in the fairgrounds’ barns.

Founded in 1841, the New York State Fair is the country’s oldest.

At the turn of the 20th century, the fair was primarily a venue for education. There were classes for young farmers, cattle and horse shows, and fruit-grower exhibitions.

There were also “Wild West shows,” where actors reenacted the cowboys of the west lassoing and sharpshooting for crowds, and airplane demonstrations to occupy farmers’ families.

The first Zeppelin airship in New York state was flown at the fair in 1905. A few years later, the fair hosted an airplane “race” for 10,000 spectators.

By the 1970s, veterinarians held live surgery demonstrations to teach farmers about animal health.

Today, with a dairy center, a live-birthing barn, programs for young farmers, and a top-tier musical venue, the New York State Fair continues its agricultural traditions … and offers blockbuster concerts for music lovers.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. Hope you’ve enjoyed the ride!