The Past, Present and Future of the Ohio State Fair

Steve Ide had strict rules for his kids when his family would attend the Ohio State Fair. First, they visited the livestock barns and produce exhibits to make sure the kids grasped and appreciated the work that went into raising animals and growing food. After that, they went to eat together as a family before setting out to explore the rest of the fair. 

“‘Once we get done eating, then you can go ride the rides,’” Ide recalls telling his kids. “It was so important that they understand what the fair is and the amount of effort that was put into it.”

Ide knows well what it’s like to go to the Ohio State Fair and miss the point. He was a 13-year-old farm kid from eastern Delaware County the first time he attended the Ohio State Fair in 1956. He and a friend tagged along with Ide’s aunt, who was there to campaign for Delaware County clerk of courts. The boys checked out the horse-racing area and the farm machinery. They even made a few bucks helping a barker pass out flyers before promptly spending that money on a carnival game that involved tossing washers onto saucers and plates.

“We hadn’t seen much of the fair,” Ide says with a laugh. 

Soon after, though, he joined 4-H and began raising landrace hogs, showing them at the Delaware County Fair and, later, the Ohio State Fair. 

“The fair was something I just got ingrained with,” says Ide, now 81 years old. “It was the thing.”

Lithograph depicting the first Ohio State Fair in 1850 (image courtesy of the Ohio State Fair)

Ide, who still lives in Delaware County, has been to more than 40 different editions of the Ohio State Fair as a visitor, exhibitor and collaborator, and he and his wife eventually started collecting fair memorabilia. The 2,000-piece collection includes items such as a ribbon from the first fair in 1850, a map of the 1852 fairgrounds from the first time it was held in Cleveland, and the fair manager’s lapel badge from the Diamond Jubilee 1925 fair. 

Ide’s collecting slowed down when his wife died in 2012, and he goes to the fair less frequently now, but he says he had a pass-the-torch moment in spring 2024 when then-newly hired Ohio State Fair executive director Adam Heffron came to visit. Ide set up about 400 pieces of his memorabilia collection in his garage, and the men spent roughly 45 minutes discussing the history and future of the fair.

From Ide’s perspective, the last 175 years of the fair can be split into two eras: The first — from 1850 to around 1920 — was about the growth and development of the fair as an agricultural showcase. The second era began as cars became more ubiquitous, making it so families could more easily travel to the fair. The way Ide sees it, a new chapter of the Ohio State Fair is about to begin, with significant additions to the fairgrounds slated to be unveiled in summer 2026.

“The fair just exploded in the ’60s and ’70s, but it’s coming to a generational change,” Ide says. “I told Mr. Heffron, ‘You and your staff are going to open up the third era of this fair.’” 

Workers at the 1941 Ohio State Fair (left) trick riders (right) at the fair in more recent years (photos courtesy of Ohio State Fair)

Although the Ohio State Fair has been closely associated with our state capital for generations, the annual event had a nomadic first 24 years before permanently settling in Columbus in 1874. The first fair was planned for Cincinnati, and during a March 1 and 2, 1849, meeting, groups from the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, Cincinnati Horticultural Society, Ohio Mechanic’s Institute, Hamilton County Agricultural Society and Ohio State Fruit Convention decided the inaugural Ohio State Fair would take place Sept. 5 through 7. 

But something outside their power kept that decision from coming to fruition. An outbreak of cholera resulted in the fair’s cancellation in 1849. The groups tried again in 1850, setting the dates a month later, from Oct. 2 through 4, to lessen the risk of cholera. 

A little more than a week before the fair, on Sept. 24, 1850, E. W. Cunningham was appointed superintendent of the fairground, replacing Darius Lapham, who had died of cholera a few weeks earlier. 

The 1850 fair was only open to the public Oct. 3 and 4 (the first day included exhibit setup and judging) and admission was 20 cents, with an estimated attendance of 25,000 to 30,000 people. In subsequent years, the fair traveled to nine cities across Ohio — including Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo — before arriving in Columbus in 1874, first on the site of what is now Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, and in 1886 at what is today known as the Ohio Expo Center. 

“The Ohio State Fair was yesterday formally opened and the beautiful new grounds fittingly dedicated to the annual mechanical, art and agricultural exhibits,” The Columbus Dispatch reported in its Sept. 1, 1886, edition. “If there is any omen of prosperity in a good beginning, the Board of Agriculture and the people of the state ought to feel content with the future.” 

Cows (left) and the annual Butter Cow sculptures (right) at the Ohio State Fair (photos courtesy of Ohio State Fair)

Like anything that’s been around for 175 years, the fair has had its ups and downs and a lot of additions that eventually became traditions. In 1903, the first butter cow sculpture debuted and has been displayed at the fair’s Dairy Products Building since the 1920s. 

In 1922, an Aug. 4 fire destroyed six buildings, but exhibitors rallied to support the fair while 50 prisoners from the Ohio Penitentiary were detailed to remove debris and rubbish. Three years later, the fair celebrated its Diamond Jubilee with a look back at the last 75 years in Ohio. In 1928, the John Philip Sousa Band performed twice a day every day of the fair — an early example of the event’s ability to court popular entertainment acts that, over the years, have included Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, Sonny & Cher and Johnny Cash.

Phil Grover was at the mid-1960s meeting that introduced one of the biggest changes to the livestock program at the fair: the Sale of Champions. At the time, Grover was the assistant director of the fair’s sheep department and joined other department directors in a meeting with then-Gov. Jim Rhodes, where Rhodes proposed the program to showcase top youth livestock exhibitors to promote farming and attract the interest of buyers. Since its debut in 1968, Sale of Champions sales have exceeded $9 million and 523 youth champions have been honored.

“There’s a fascination with livestock by non-farm people,” says Grover, 91, who retired as director of the fair’s Boer goat department in 2023. “They want to see baby pigs. They want to see baby lambs. It’s human nature to want to see Mother Nature.” 

Smokey Bear at the Ohio State Fair during the 1970s (photo courtesy of Ohio State Fair)

When it comes to Ohio State Fair traditions, Smokey Bear, which debuted in 1959 and was updated in 2015, and the SkyGlider, which opened in 1969, are perennial favorites. But there may be no more beloved symbol of the Ohio State Fair than the annual sculpture of a cow and calf carved from blocks of butter and displayed in a refrigerated case. 

Each year since the 1960s, the cow and calf have been joined by a different Ohio icon sculpted in butter. Over the years, zookeeper and conservationist Jack Hanna, Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas and Ohio State mascot Brutus Buckeye have been immortalized in the medium. 

Since 2000, toy-design and sculpture artist Paul Brooke has been part of the team bringing the ideas to life. Working with over a ton of butter, Brooke and his team of four spend more than 400 hours on the sculptures, which are built in a display cooler that is kept at a crisp 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Recent displays include ones depicting the Ohio-made movie “A Christmas Story,” Ohio inventors and Team USA Olympic athletes.

“That [Olympics] one was really challenging because we had made some crazy armatures of Olympic athletes doing gravity-defying poses,” Brooke says. “We had a lot of butter weight hanging out in midair.”

Upgrades to the 100-year-old Dairy Products Building are part of the Ohio State Fair improvements already underway that aim to make the Ohio State Fair experience better for visitors. Air conditioning, public restrooms and a recessed butter cooler are all set to be unveiled in summer 2026. 

The kayaking pond at the Ohio State Fair’s Natural Resources Park (photo courtesy of Ohio State Fair)

Also in 2026, the fair will debut a more than 175,000-square-foot agriculture exhibit building, an Ohio Showcase building, an Ohio-themed carousel and other upgrades as part of a more than $460 million makeover. Other changes that have already happened reflect shifts in culture. For example, baking competitions at the fair now include sourdough entries, based on the bread’s rising popularity.  Exhibitions of pygmy goats — the kind found at goat yoga — are another recent addition.

“You have to evolve to people’s tastes and interests and spark some excitement,” says Heffron, who became the fair’s executive director in 2024. “You’ve got to keep evolving but stay true to what your mission is.”

He is just the person to lead the fair into the future too. He grew up on the grounds of the Minnesota State Fair, one of the largest in the country, where his dad was the fair manager. One of his first jobs out of college in 1994 was at the Ohio State Fair, where he worked in the rental department for four years.

“I like what the Ohio State Fair stands for — the history, tradition — and it’s well-rooted in agriculture,” he says. “A fair is a reflection of the community.”

For Heffron, the butter sculpture display is a perfect analogy for the fair. While the butter cow is one of its oldest traditions, the display has a new element each year, making it a must-see.

“That’s the magic of the fair,” he says. “That’s what drives people here — it’s something old, and it’s something new.”

The Ohio State Fair runs July 23 through Aug. 3 in 2025. For more information about the Ohio State Fair, visit ohiostatefair.com.

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