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Astate fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of aU.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of acounty 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 stateagriculture, through competitive exhibitions oflivestock and display offarm products. As the U.S. evolved from a predominantlyagrarian to anindustrial society in the twentieth century, and the moreservice economy of the 21st century, modern state fairs have expanded to includecarnival 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 ofThe Fredericksburg Agricultural Fair, established in 1738, and is the oldest fair in Virginia and the United States.^[1] The first U.S. state fair was theNew York, held in 1841 inSyracuse, and has been held annually since.^[2] The second state fair was inDetroit, Michigan, which ran from 1849^[3] to 2009.^[4][5] The fair was revived in 2013 and has been held at theSuburban Collection Showplace inNovi, Michigan ever since.

Events similar to state fairs are also held annually in each state capital inAustralia, known as royal shows. Australian royal shows are organized by state agricultural and horticultural societies, and are described further in theagricultural show article.

Notes

Several state fairs maintain their own police departments, including:

• California Exposition and State Fair Police
• Iowa State Fair Police
• Minnesota State Fair Police Department
• Wisconsin State Fair Park Police Department

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

State and county fairs are famous for a variety of competitions that awardribbons. Awards are generally given according to the following scale:^{[citation needed][5]}

• First place – blue ribbon
• Second place – red ribbon
• Third place – white ribbon
• Fourth place – yellow ribbon
• Fifth place – green ribbon
• Sixth place – orange ribbon
• Seventh place – purple ribbon
• Eighth place – brown ribbon

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.^[88][89][90] 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.^[91]

• Agricultural show
• Rodeo
• Trade fair
• World's fair

• State fairs
• Culture of the United States
• Culture of Canada
• Annual fairs
• Annual events in the United States

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