The final numbers are in on this year’s Ohio State Fair, which started off hot but cooled off for the second half of the 12-day period.
Attendance was off slightly for this year’s fair; it was down about 2%. A total of 969,082 visitors came through the fair’s gates. That's lower than the record of 1,006,228 fairgoers in 2023.
About the same amount of food was sold this year as in 2024. But the fair said a lot more fries, funnel cakes and corn dogs were purchased, and more than twice as many lemonades. Both last year and this year, more than $8.3 million in concessions were sold by around 350 vendors throughout the fairgrounds. And more than $3 million in midway rides were purchased both years.
The Sales of Champions brought in big bucks. The auction of winning livestock total $498,000 in sales, compared to just over $260,000 last year. That's an increase of around 87%.
The 171st Ohio State Fair runs from July 29 through Aug. 9, 2026. Construction throughout the fairgrounds for the past two years on the Expo 2050 Master Plan is set to be finished by then.
