Carnival & Fair News

With both a giant cow made of butter and Creedence Clearwater Revival founder John Fogerty on hand, the Utah State Fair was the place to be during the first two weeks of September. Held on the Utah State Fairgrounds in Salt Lake City Sept. 5 through 15, there were new fair food offerings, live cook-offs, carnival rides and games, and national musical acts to celebrate the event’s 168th year.

Gate tickets were priced at $15 for adults 13-61; $10 for seniors aged 62 and above, and $10 for kids ages 6-12, with those under 6 admitted free. The fair also offered a Pioneer Day Fundle, good any day of the fair for $47, honoring Utah's founding in 1847. The package included 3 admission tickets, 3 yellow slide tickets, and $30 in food vouchers for a family savings of $54.

Guests were enthusiastic about livestock exhibits, new SPAM fries, and pizza in a cone, however, according to Nicki Claeys, deputy executive director and marketing director for the Utah State Fairpark & Event Center, attendance was down a bit from 2023, with 300,967 attendees coming through the gates this year.

“Our theme was ‘More of What You Love,’ so we worked to find ways to add more to what we already did [in the past] each year. Also, with the price of everything in life going up, and budgets getting tighter, we wanted to help people feel like they got their money's worth. So, there was a lot that was new. For example, we did two large grounds acts this year, typically we just have one. We felt that adding the additional act would add more value to the ticket.

We added the two stages on the weekends, making four stages total. We even added new animals to our Barnyard Friends baby animal/ag education exhibit - a highland cow and a giant boar.”

Thomas Carnival brought over 35 rides to the event, including thrillers like Pharoah’s Fury, a giant Century Wheel, a Tilt-A-Whirl, slides, Ring of Fire, and a house of mirrors. There were Water Races, Balloon Bust, Speed Ball, and Flip a Frog games on the midway among others.

Along with the rides and games, concerts were king, Claeys says. “We had three concerts, John Fogerty [was priced between] $65 and $180. We can usually count on classic rock to do well. [We also had] Dustin Lynch ($60-150), and The All-American Rejects ($48-150). We had not had an alternative band for quite some time, so this was a good chance for us to see how it would be received. The Salt Lake market is a tough one, we have over a dozen concert venues in a 30-mile radius. Three are Live Nation venues. The competition makes it very tough to not only secure talent but to sell out our venue.” Buyers of concert tickets also received fair admission tickets as well.

Claeys notes that the fair also added a Jaripeo event with five Hispanic bands performing. Tickets for that event were priced between $85 and $150. “We host them regularly throughout the summer as we have a good Hispanic presence in our community. This was our first Jaripeo during the Fair. It did extremely well. We will certainly do it again,” she asserts. In short, the strong mix of music was a hit.

Other popular separately ticketed events included the fair’s annual demolition derby and a monster truck rally, each of which also came with a state fair ticket.

One of the two major ground acts this year was the Flying Royals, a trapeze troupe that performed five times a day. Guests also were drawn to milking demonstrations, art exhibits, and the aforementioned butter cow sculpture, shaped from more than 600 pounds of butter. It takes artists Debbie Brown and Matt McNaughtan 600-800 pounds of butter and about 80 hours to create a meltingly cool statue. New butter statues have been a part of the fair since 1989. An Extreme Dogs act promoted animal adoption and performed frisbee catches, tricks, and stunts. It too was a strong draw.

Food was certainly a fan favorite from French toast stick sundaes to mini-donuts, gyros, grilled cheese combos, street corn, and funnel cakes – the latter still being seemingly everyone’s favorite fair food. Think Sweet sold deep fried cheesecake, apple pie, and Oreos. While of course fairgoers could simply enjoy eating the fair’s varied foods, they could also vote for their favorites. From September 5 to 7, attendees could purchase $20 tasting tickets to vote for the foods they liked the best.

Equally tasty were live cook-off events featuring chefs creating everything from the ultimate French omelet to kids’ cupcake battles. Another popular food-centric event was the Ice Cream Festival on September 9th. A part of the fair since 1998, local ice cream brands bring out the scoops and this year raised $5,681 to benefit the Utah Food Bank. The festival featured unlimited ice cream, photo booths, and a DJ.

Competitive exhibits shone in a range of categories this year, including quilts, baked goods, photography, handmade clothing and more, with 1700 entries in the fabric arts section alone.

While it's well-known the Utah State Fair brings people from all over to compete in its many livestock competitions, thousands of others submit needlework, quilts, handmade clothing, and other fabric pieces to be judged. In photography, the big winner was The Park City Photo Club which won back-to-back "best in show" awards.

One of the biggest competitive events was a giant pumpkin competition. The competition is always a challenge as Utah can be difficult for pumpkin growers, given weather fluctuations and the importance of keeping pumpkins cool – especially pumpkins as large as 880 pounds, the weight of at least one of the contestants. Meanwhile, livestock exhibits ranged from sheep and cattle to reptiles, pigeons, and bees.

All in all the Utah State Fair proved once again that there was plenty to buzz about on the fairgrounds in 2024.