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12-850: The State Fair of Virginia is a state fair held annually at the end of September at The Meadow Event Park in Doswell , Virginia . Through 2008, the fair was held at the Richmond Raceway Complex , located in eastern Henrico County , just outside the capital city of Richmond . It is owned by the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. The Fair has offered rides, carnival games, concerts, and typical fair foods such as cotton candy and funnel cakes as well as Virginia's favorites barbecue chicken and peanuts. The Fair has also offered technological, agricultural, historical, and livestock exhibitions and competitions, including pig races. Several of

24-414: A 10,000-square-foot (930 m) multi-purpose pavilion, a horse-stall barn with 143 stalls, and an equine facility with four show rings, to accommodate local and regional horse shows and other equine events. The Meadow Event Park is on the site of Meadow Farm, the thoroughbred horse farm owned by Christopher Chenery that was the breeding home of back-to-back racing greats Riva Ridge and Secretariat ,

36-897: 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

48-459: 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

60-523: The agricultural show article. Several state fairs maintain their own police departments, including: 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 award ribbons . Awards are generally given according to the following scale: As of 2019, the largest attendance at a state fair in

72-401: 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

84-639: 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. Great New York State Fair Too Many Requests If you report this error to

96-427: The competitions offered scholarships to students that competed. Entertainment includes log-rolling, chain sawing, pig races, snake handling, magicians, and stilt-walking. Vendors sell clothing, belt buckles, and other items with novelty designs The expositions have included: "Virginia World" which highlighted Virginia agricultural products, the better living center which hosted the arts & craft competition displays,

108-480: The horse race at Colonial Downs . On May 22, 2012, Universal Fairs, based in suburban Memphis, purchased the assets of State Fair of Virginia in bankruptcy court. In July 2012, the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation purchased an ownership interest and partnered with Universal Fairs, who plan to continue the fair. The Farm Bureau bought the remaining shares in 2013. State fair A state fair

120-538: The options of the 4-5 year olds, plus the merry go round and the airplane rider which goes around in a circle at slow speed. All individuals 12 and up have access to all the rides as long as they are 61 inches or above. The Fair moved to its new location in 2009 at the Meadow Event Park in Caroline County. This multi-use space of 360 acres (1.5 km) includes a 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m) exposition hall,

132-553: The technology expo which highlighted Virginia technology industry, and "Young McDonald's Farm" which displayed a variety of young animals for the urban visitor to see. Additionally, one section of the Fair has included a "Heritage Village" which displayed Native American, African American, and Euro-American history in the Commonwealth of Virginia. There is a special section of the park with rides for children ages 4-5. Those ages 6-12 have all

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144-436: The winners of five of the six Triple Crown races in 1972 and 1973. No fair was held in 1861–64, 1917–18, 1942–45 & 2020. In March 2012, the fair's parent company filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, putting the fair on hold for the first time in its history. Reasons for the non-profit's bankruptcy included the high costs for converting Meadow Farm into Meadow Event Park. All events that the company ran were cancelled, except for

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