State fair
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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, 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 first U.S. state fair was that of New York, held in 1841 in Syracuse, and has been held annually to the present year.[1] The second state fair was in Detroit, Michigan, which ran from 1849[2] to 2009.[3][4]
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.
Contents
List of state fairs
United States
Provincial exhibitions in Canada
A few annual exhibitions in the summer in Canada are similar to state fairs in the United States:
Province | Fair Name | Location | Attendance (year) |
---|---|---|---|
Alberta | Calgary Stampede | Calgary | 1,133,050 (2013)[12] |
Alberta | K-Days | Edmonton | 740,339 (2012)[13] |
British Columbia | Pacific National Exhibition | Vancouver | 712,049 (2013)[14] |
Ontario | Canadian National Exhibition | Toronto | 1,360,000 (2013)[15] |
Ontario | Ottawa SuperEX | Ottawa | 422,095 (2009)[16] |
Ontario | Royal Agricultural Winter Fair | Toronto | |
Manitoba | Red River Exhibition | Winnipeg | 175,971 (2013)[17] |
Manitoba | Royal Manitoba Winter Fair | Brandon | 114,000 (2012)[18] |
Saskatchewan | Canadian Western Agribition | Regina | 122,300 (2013)[19] |
Awards
State and county fairs are famous for a variety of competitions that award ribbons. Awards are generally given according to the following scale:[citation needed]
- 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
Attendance
The largest attendance at a State Fair in the USA is in Texas attracting an estimated 3,000,000 people annually. The largest average per day attendance is at the Minnesota State Fair averaging over 150,000 people per day.
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/encyclopedia/entries/new-york-state-fair.html
- ↑ Michigan.gov Archived November 25, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Granholm cuts State Fair from budget Archived November 3, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 It's official: State Fair a goner Archived November 3, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Michiganians struggle with loss of state fair
- ↑ The Future of the Michigan State Fair
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- ↑ Thebige.com
- ↑ Waterson, James and Seymour, Rachel Anne. Pulling Up Stakes: East Texas State Fair Says Goodbye Until Next Year. Tyler Morning Telegraph, October 4th, 2010, p. 1A, 6A
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