How State Fairs Became an American Tradition: Photos

The Great New York State Fair, held in Syracuse on September 29 and 30, 1841, was the first of its kind in the United States.The New York State Agricultural Society organized the fair for the “promotion of agriculture and household manufactures in the State.” Between 10,000 and 15,000 attendees—mostly farmers—braved rain and mud to tour livestock exhibits, hear speeches by notable citizens and cheer teams of oxen in a plowing contest.

It didn’t take long for the New York State Fair to experiment with even more thrilling attractions. The 1849 fair featured a 50-foot-tall revolving wheel that was a predecessor to the Ferris wheel introduced 44 years later at the Chicago World’s Fair. The ride, built by a pair of Erie Canal workers, used a hand rope and pulleys to carry four passengers at a time.

Following New York’s lead, agricultural organizations in several states launched their own fairs, including Michigan (1849), Ohio (1850), Wisconsin (1851), Indiana (1852), Illinois (1853), Iowa (1854) and Maine (1855). Skowhegan, Maine, had hosted an agricultural fair as early as 1818, two years before Maine became a state.

In the 19th century, the exhibits at state fairs became showcases for each state’s distinct culture, says Savig, who curated a Smithsonian exhibition featuring historic state fair crafts and co-authored the companion book, State Fairs: Growing American Craft.

“Some of these early fairs were the only place where women could be recognized, receive rewards and show their work,” Savig says. “Skilled blacksmiths were also creating new ways of farming that would work for family farms in the Midwest. All of this defined the character of a location, and the farmer was still the center of it all.”

The types of crafts and goods exhibited at state fairs also reflected community values like thriftiness. Canned goods preserved fresh produce for the long winter, and early quilts were made from clothing remnants that otherwise would have gone to waste. “Being able to make something beautiful out of that was a moral flex for a lot of participants, and that was really valued,” Savig says.

By the early 20th century, state fairs were held on dedicated fairgrounds with permanent exhibition halls, livestock pens and arenas. Beyond the agricultural exhibits and prize-winning crafts, state fairs were mong the biggest entertainment and social events of the year. Attendees traveled from far and wide to stroll the midway, compete for prizes at game booths, ride amusement rides and gawk at sideshows.

“When state fairs were first formed, they were some of the biggest gatherings in the state or territory’s history,” Savig says.

When James Henry Yarborough was interviewed in 1938 about attending the South Carolina State Fair as a kid, he described it as the adventure of a lifetime. “[W]e regarded a visit to Columbia and the State Fair then just about like you or I would look upon a visit to London or Berlin now,” Yarborough said.

The legendary Tilt-a-Whirl debuted at the Minnesota State Fair in 1926, which means that it’s been delivering screams and stomachaches for a century.

A trip to the state fair isn’t complete without the taste of cotton candy, corn dogs or funnel cake.

Cotton candy became a sensation at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, where it was called “fairy floss.” Patented in 1897 by a dentist and a candy maker from Nashville, Tennessee, fairy floss was an immediate sensation, selling more than 68,000 boxes at the World’s Fair. It was rebranded as cotton candy in the 1920s (by another dentist, strangely), by which time it was a staple at state fairs nationwide.

Corn dogs were introduced at the State Fair of Texas in 1942 by brothers Neil and Carl Fletcher. Before the cornmeal-battered, deep-fried franks were known as “Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs,” the Fletchers tested less appetizing names such as “Meal on a Stick” and “the Brown Bomber.”

Fried dough has been a treat for centuries, but the modern American funnel cake is closely associated with Pennsylvania Dutch culture and the Kutztown Folk Festival in eastern Pennsylvania. At the festival, which began in 1950, Pennsylvania Dutch cooks sold drechter kuche, a traditional fried-dough dish eaten at Christmastime.

In 1972, the Iowa Caucuses overtook New Hampshire to become the earliest state primary for nominating presidential candidates. Jimmy Carter was the first candidate to campaign heavily in Iowa, including visits to the Iowa State Fair in 1975 and 1976. Carter successfully used state fair to bolster his image as a humble peanut farmer who understood the concerns of everyday Americans.

Since then, the Iowa State Fair has become a required campaign stop for presidential candidates, who gamely eat fried food on a stick and pose for photos with the famous Butter Cow, a life-size sculpture made with about 600 pounds of Iowa butter. Fourteen presidential candidates visited the Iowa State Fair in 2023 ahead of the January 2024 caucuses.