The State Fair of Texas

The Texas State Fair has been held at the historic Fair Park in Dallas, Texas, since 1886. The Texas state fair boasts the largest attendance of any state fair in the United States, totaling more than three million attendees annually in recent years. It also has the distinction of having the largest Ferris wheel (two hundred and twelve feet tall) in the United States.

Starting the last week of September, it usually runs for about twenty four days. The fair is open free to school children as well as senior citizens on designated days. The state fair usually earns in excess of three hundred and fifty million dollars for the Dallas economy every year.

Two classic football games are played annually at this state fair. One is The State Fair Classic, played at the Cotton Bowl between two historically black universities, namely Prairie View A&M University and Grambling State University. The other is also a college football game between Texas and Oklahoma.

One of the more popular attractions at the fair is the auto show. Other traditional fair attractions you will find at this Dallas extravaganza are livestock shows, various competitions, carnival rides, several exhibitions, and live entertainment on a daily basis. This fair has in recent years earned a reputation as the place to go to sample a wide variety of unusual fried foods.

It is sometimes referred to as the "State Fair of Texas" to distinguish it from other Texas fairs, such as the South Texas Fair in Beaumont, the East Texas Fair in Tyler, The North Texas Fair in Denton, and the Central Texas Fair in Belton, Texas. So exciting and profitable has the State Fair been for so many years that it is replicated in various forms throughout the state of Texas.