A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in their categories at the more-local county fairs. State fairs began in the nineteenth century for the purpose of promoting state agriculture, through competitive exhibitions of livestock and display of farm products. As the U.S. evolved from a predominantly agrarian to an industrial society in the twentieth century, and the more service economy of the 21st century, modern state fairs have expanded to include carnival amusement rides and games, display of industrial products, automobile racing, and entertainment such as musical concerts. Large fairs can admit more than a million visitors over the course of a week or two. The oldest state fair is that of The Fredericksburg Agricultural Fair, established in 1738, and is the oldest fair in Virginia and the United States. The first U.S. state fair was the New York, held in 1841 in Syracuse, and has been held annually since. The second state fair was in Detroit, Michigan, which ran from 1849 to 2009. Events similar to state fairs are also held annually in each state capital in Australia, known as royal shows. Australian royal shows are organized by state agricultural and horticultural societies, and are described further in the agricultural show article.

List of state fairs

United States

State fair police departments

Several state fairs maintain their own police departments, including:

Provincial exhibitions in Canada

A few annual exhibitions in the summer in Canada are similar to state fairs in the United States:

Awards

State and county fairs are famous for a variety of competitions that award ribbons. Awards are generally given according to the following scale:

Attendance

As of 2019, the largest attendance at a state fair in the US is in Texas with the fair having attracted 2,514,637 visitors. Even though it is longer than an average state fair, any advantage is negated by the size of the physical state since those days would be required for the states citizens to have equal opportunity to attend. The largest average per day attendance is at the Minnesota State Fair averaging just under 200,000 people per day.