Steve and I live about 10 minutes away from the fairgrounds so we make a point of visiting the Texas State Fair every year, which runs for 4 weeks from late September until mid-October.  Yesterday was the last day and we finally made it out there!

The Texas State Fair is the biggest State Fair in the entire United States and it’s where the famous corny dog was invented.  I’m not a big corny dog fan but I do love traditional fair food – I always get a smoked turkey leg every year, along with some sweet corn and Steve and I share a tater twister as well.  The tater twister is basically a spiralized potato that is then flash fried and sprinkled with a savory seasoned salt – it’s like a long potato chip and is great dipped in mustard or ketchup.  We also tried a “cowboy corn crunch” which was a corn fritter with a creamy center – not too bad!

The Texas State Fair is also known for its plethora of gross fried foods, including fried brownies, fried cheesecake, fried double stuffed oreos, fried dorito covered pizza, fried jello-o, fried jambalaya….and the list goes on and on.  We always pass on the really gross fried stuff.  This year’s new item was fried fruit loops cereal, which looked super disgusting.

I love to check out the animal barns as well.  Since we were there on the last day, most of the animals were already gone except for the chickens and the sheep.  However, they always have a massive big called “hogzilla” every year that sits out front of the Swine Barn.  Each year, hundreds of people come to have their prize steers, goats, pigs, chickens, etc…judged and auctioned off.  The steers go for some crazy prices!  This year’s first place winner was auctioned off for $141,000!!  Crazy, right?  That’s one expensive steak.

There is also a ton of shopping at the State Fair, most of which is junk, IMO, but they do have lots of Texas food items like jams, salsas, spice mixes and relishes available.  We still have a ton of spices leftover that we bought last year so we decided to skip that.  You can also buy everything from hot tubs to weed whackers while at the fair – it’s a weird hodge podge of stuff.

Of course, we walked through the midway area of the fair as well.  We have ridden several of the rides before but decided to not waste any money on rides or games this year.

Finally, Steve and I walked over the auto show which is housed in some beautiful 1930’s art deco buildings, which have some interesting murals painted on them as well.  After that, we always stop into the Creative Arts building where they have people’s arts, crafts and food submissions that are judged each year. There is some really weird stuff in this building – it’s always a hoot to see what bizarre things people knit or make (including super creepy dolls and hideous paintings).  This is also where they have the annual butter sculpture each year.  Yes, there is always a giant sculpture made of butter.

They were actually judging casserole dishes when we stopped in so that was kind of fun to watch as well.  The best part of the day was that we had incredible weather!  Highs in the low 70s and no humidity so it was perfect fair weather.  After 4.5 hours, we were faired out and had eaten our fill so we headed back home just as it was starting to get really crowded.  Overall, it was a great day!  If you are ever in Dallas during late September to October, be sure to put the State Fair on your to do list!