Blue Ribbon Group 
New: 2024 “Top 30 State Fairs” List
Do you love state fairs like we do? Check out our new 2024 “Top 30 State Fairs” list. This second annual compilation is based exclusively on two factors: per day attendance numbers (total 2023 attendance divided by total days open) and their baking competitions (history of past Blue Ribbon Group special contests). Our other criteria? They have to take place the second half of the year, the Blue Ribbon Group official state fair season.
All 30 fairs on our best state fair list have higher per day attendances than any other U.S. state fair happening July to October each year. Attendances ranged from 27K to 153K for per day averages (based on top 30 list). That is A LOT of people through the gates each day. All take place in the second half of the year, with the majority happening in August and September. The State Fair of Texas has the highest total attendance – 2.5 million – but since it’s spread out over twice as many days as Minnesota and others, it lands in the 4th “best state fair” spot.
Big E Fair Added for 1st Time: Lands in Top 10
New to our “Top 30 State Fairs” list is the Big E, the biggest fair in Massachusetts. I lands in the # 8 spot. The Big E is considered America’s only multi-state fair and is the largest in the whole NE region. As a result, we count the Big E as a state fair. It represents all of New England with entertainment, unique foods, competitions, and more. Per research, the Big E’s Massachusetts State Exhibition Hall literally pays homage to all six New England states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We have had many cookie contests at the Big E in years past. Welcome to our best state fair list Big E!
The other biggest changes with our list:
- Attendance leapt at many of the fairs, especially at Kentucky (up 14 percent) and at Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York, among others
- Total attendance for all 30 top fairs jumped from 22.2 million fairgoers to 23.5 million
- We narrowed the top 30 list to only have official state – or multi-state – fairs.
- At the same time, we added 20 runner-up best fairs, an Honorable Mention list.
2024 Honorable Mention U.S. Fairs:
For the first time, we also compiled an “honorable mention list” of sorts, to include the largest county and regional fairs we have worked with over the years. This gives our list greater/deeper representation of the entire country. Six land on the West Coast. Six land in the Northeast. The rest span the entire continental U.S.
Daily average attendance numbers range from 94K to 10K per day, which is how they are ranked here.
