Where and when is your state's official State Fair hosted?

Started by roadman65, July 12, 2018, 01:39:24 PM

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roadman65

Florida: Tampa (I-4 at US 301) is usually the 3rd week in February.
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Beltway

Virginia state fair

The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County, Virginia, is the pastoral setting for the annual State Fair of Virginia, which dates back 164 years to 1854.  The fair is held in late September through early October and attracts over 230,000 attendees during its 10-day exposition of agriculture, education, and entertainment. It is [on VA-30] just east of [I-95 and] the theme park, Kings Dominion.
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jon daly

Conn. and the rest of New England combine to have the 16 day Big E Eastern States Exhibition in West Springfield, Mass. at the end of September (and occasionally into October.) But, IIRC, Vermont also has its own state fair.

hbelkins

Louisville, sometime in August, at the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center. At I-65 and I-264 across the Watterson Expressway from the airport.

West Virginia's is in Lewisburg, which to me is a very odd site, because it's not centrally located at all.


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tchafe1978

The Wisconsin State Fair is held at the State Fairgrounds in West Allis, just west of Milwaukee. It's usually held in early August, this year it runs from August 2-12.

TheHighwayMan3561

#5
Minnesota at the state fairgrounds off MN 51 in Falcon Heights, between Minneapolis and St. Paul. It runs for the twelve days before and including Labor Day.

By per day attendance it's the largest in the country. Texas has the largest overall attendance, but that's because it runs for three weeks.
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Brandon

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briantroutman

Despite the importance of agriculture in Pennsylvania's history as well as its significance to the current economy, the Commonwealth does not have a state fair, per se. (i.e. a late summer/early fall event with animal displays, competitions, musical performances, a midway with rides, and carnival food)

We do, however, have the Pennsylvania Farm Show; it's held indoors every January at its namesake complex in Harrisburg–just off I-81 at the US 22-322/Cameron Street interchange. Perhaps because of the time of year and the indoor venue, the Farm Show remains true to its agricultural roots–there are no rides or grandstand concerts.

Perhaps because of the lack of a summertime fair, the state has a few notable county fairs which attract large crowds annually and feature the kinds of amusements and performances that the Farm Show lacks. The most significant are the fairs in Allentown, Bloomsburg, and York.

dvferyance

Quote from: tchafe1978 on July 12, 2018, 03:33:05 PM
The Wisconsin State Fair is held at the State Fairgrounds in West Allis, just west of Milwaukee. It's usually held in early August, this year it runs from August 2-12.
A second one in Eau Claire is held  not sure the dates.

roadman65

Since the original State Fairgrounds were sold in Hamilton Township, NJ it never really had a good state fair as it was at that location.  I know the first few years Six Flags in Jackson had an area of their parking lot closed off so the animals and other events could be held all inclusive in the theme park admission.  However, there was no outside contractor for a midway because the entire theme park served as that.

Then later in the 90's I heard a fair with its name opened up at the now defunct Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, and then later in the East Rutherford Sports Complex where that on and off entertainment complex is being built and paused until the owners of the venue decide whether to build or not to build. 

Now I see NJ has two fairs with the name state fair however, which is the successor to the original fair in Hamilton I do not know, but one is in Sussex County and the other is still held in East Rutherford.
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TheHighwayMan3561

Quote from: dvferyance on July 12, 2018, 05:02:25 PM
Quote from: tchafe1978 on July 12, 2018, 03:33:05 PM
The Wisconsin State Fair is held at the State Fairgrounds in West Allis, just west of Milwaukee. It's usually held in early August, this year it runs from August 2-12.
A second one in Eau Claire is held  not sure the dates.

I find that one amusing because if I recall it's called the Northern Wisconsin State Fair or similar, and as a former Superior resident that's a laughable definition of northern Wisconsin.
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ce929wax

I didn't even know that Michigan had a state fair, but they do in Novi.  It only runs five days though from August 30 through September 3.

One of these days I'd like to make it back to the Allegan County fair, which usually happens in September.  The last time I went was 1993.

ilpt4u

Quote from: Brandon on July 12, 2018, 04:43:52 PM
Springfield, and it runs August 9 through August 19, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_State_Fair
But what about the DuQuoin Illinois State Fair, in Southern IL?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuQuoin_State_Fair
Aug 24-Sept 3 this year

I'm pretty sure the Springfield one is the official one

sparker

As a matter of fact, ours (CA) starts this Friday (7/13) and extends through Sunday, July 29 at the state fairgrounds in Sacramento.  When I was young (early teens) the Division of Highways always had a booth at the fair, passing out official state highway maps.  IIRC, I was 13 when I picked up my first one ('63) and signed up to have one mailed to me for every edition after that.  Tried to get a personal subscription to CH & PW, but only public agencies, libraries, registered contractors, and registered PE's could obtain one of those (damn!). 

Also liked the fair for the number of displays featuring various scales of model railroads; back then both SP and WP had "dioramas" with some of their lines laid out in miniature -- SP's was Donner Pass, while WP featured their Valley Division from Stockton north to Oroville; back in '63 the realignment bypassing the then-under-construction Oroville Dam had just opened (including the double-deck bridge over an arm of the eventual lake with Alternate US 40 on the top and the tracks on the lower deck); that was depicted on an "annex" to the original display.  Fun & informative stuff!   

Bruce

Washington doesn't have an official state fair, but the largest (by far) is the Puyallup Fair, which renamed itself to the "Washington State Fair" a few years ago. 1.1 million people attend every September.

The second largest, the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, begins in late August and almost overlaps with Puyallup's. It has less than 400,000 annual attendees.

webny99

The New York State Fair in Syracuse is responsible for the infamous presence of a traffic signal on I-690 between the third Saturday in August and Labor Day.

Syracuse is fairly* central to the state as as whole, and the fair does seem like a fairly* big deal when it comes around every year.

*Excuse the (unintentional) puns. I had the entire post typed, and it wasn't until I was reviewing it that I realized what I had done - and twice - without noticing!

slorydn1

Usually mid October at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh (right next door to NC State's Carter-Finley football stadium).
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cjk374

Louisiana:  Shreveport at the LA State Fairgrounds off Greenwood Rd (US 79/80). Runs from end of October to early November.
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TheHighwayMan3561

Quote from: cjk374 on July 12, 2018, 09:52:51 PM
Louisiana:  Shreveport at the LA State Fairgrounds off Greenwood Rd (US 79/80). Runs from end of October to early November.

Are gators allowed in the park? :)
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jp the roadgeek

CT doesn't have a state fair, unless you consider The Big E in West Springfield. MA (9/14-9/30 this year) the official state fair for all New England states.  The biggest fairs are the Goshen and Woodstock Fairs on Labor Day Weekend, and the Durham Fair the last weekend in September. 
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TheHighwayMan3561

#20
On this topic, how big a deal is your state's fair?

The state of Minnesota pretty much shuts down for that 12 days. Every media outlet and personality in town relocates to temporary on-location studios for the duration of the fair while outstate media generally plans a day or two to come down for their own broadcasts. Outstate folks descend with their prized livestock for shows and exhibits while Twin Cities residents eat a year's worth of terrible things. Politicians flock to the fair, and this year will be especially miserable with how much Minnesota has at stake.
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ET21

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on July 13, 2018, 01:20:18 AM
On this topic, how big a deal is your state's fair?

The state of Minnesota pretty much shuts down for that 12 days. Every media outlet and personality in town relocates to temporary on-location studios for the duration of the fair while outstate media generally plans a day or two to come down for their own broadcasts. Outstate folks descend with their prized livestock for shows and exhibits while Twin Cities residents eat a year's worth of terrible things. Politicians flock to the fair, and this year will be especially miserable with how much Minnesota has at stake.

Illinois just gets a mention in Chicagoland. I'm sure it's a bigger deal outside of the metro area, but I've never seen any live reports from Chicago stations in Springfield.
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inkyatari

Quote from: ilpt4u on July 12, 2018, 06:13:48 PM
Quote from: Brandon on July 12, 2018, 04:43:52 PM
Springfield, and it runs August 9 through August 19, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_State_Fair
But what about the DuQuoin Illinois State Fair, in Southern IL?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuQuoin_State_Fair
Aug 24-Sept 3 this year

I'm pretty sure the Springfield one is the official one

Never understood why we have two state fairs.  Seems to me the state can't afford the Springfield one, let alone the DuQuoin one.
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

jakeroot

Quote from: Bruce on July 12, 2018, 08:00:06 PM
Washington doesn't have an official state fair, but the largest (by far) is the Puyallup Fair, which renamed itself to the "Washington State Fair" a few years ago. 1.1 million people attend every September.

That's interesting. A common misconception down here was that the Puyallup Fair was chosen by some committee to be the official state fair, and thus it was forced to change its name to reflect that (with the "do the Puyallup" motto sticking around as a protest). After reading some articles, I see that is not even remotely true.

FWIW, it is still very often referred to as the "Puyallup Fair" by locals. Not sure what its called up north. I assume "Puyallup Fair" due to the existence of the Evergreen State Fair.

Brandon

Quote from: ce929wax on July 12, 2018, 06:00:41 PM
I didn't even know that Michigan had a state fair, but they do in Novi.  It only runs five days though from August 30 through September 3.

One of these days I'd like to make it back to the Allegan County fair, which usually happens in September.  The last time I went was 1993.

There's also the Upper Peninsula State Fair held in Escanaba.
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