Meet Me at the Fair

The food. The rides. The midway games. The butter cow. Horse shows. Dog shows. Sheep shows. Vendors hawking jewelry cleaner, food processors, tee shirts, invisible dogs.
The Ohio State Fair is so deeply embedded in my memory, whenever I think about it, I smell it. I see it. I hear it. I feel the dried sweat on my face, baked on by the August sun; I taste the sticky-sweet, fresh-squeezed lemonade; I smell the hay (among other things) in the barns.

This year marks the 150th year of the GREAT OHIO STATE FAIR. It runs August 1 - 17th, opening every day at 9 am. The midway opens at 10 am, and the lights and bells and whistles and squeals and screams don't stop until 11 pm (Sunday - Thursday) and midnight (Friday - Saturday).

General admission is $8 for adults; a wristband good for unlimited rides, all day, costs $17. Check out the website, http://www.ohiostatefair.com/ for advance-sale discounts available until July 31.

And if you also have powerful memories of the fair, be sure to visit the virtual "memory wall" where you can read comments of other longtime fair-goers, and add your own.

Ohio State Fair History and Tradition

The first Ohio State Fair was held in Cincinnati in 1850. But wait-if this is the 150th Ohio State Fair, we must have missed a few years. Indeed, the fair was cancelled from 1942-1945. During that time, the Board of Agriculture rented the grounds and buildings to the War Department (for $1 per year) for handling airplane parts and equipment. Now, let's go back to the beginning.

Before the Ohio State Board of Agriculture had acquired a permanent fairgrounds in Columbus, the state fair was held in different counties. In 1870 and 1871, for example, the fair was held in Springfield. In 1874, when the Franklin County Agriculture society increased the size of Franklin Park to 93 acres, it became the official location of the Ohio State Fair. Ten years later the Fair moved to a new location, and Franklin Park was abandoned.

The Ohio State Fair traditionally begins on the first Friday of August and is a 17-day celebration of Ohio's products, people, and accomplishments.

Yes, that includes the infamous butter cow.

My advice? Take a day off, take your family, take your camera, take lots of money (you'll want to bring home plenty of souvenirs) and go, enjoy the Great Ohio State Fair!

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