Overview The Arizona State Fair fills the state fairgrounds on McDowell Road in central Phoenix every fall with carnival rides, fair food, animal barns and a nightly Grandstand of monster trucks, Figure 8 racing and rodeo, while headline acts play inside Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The fair calls itself the largest annual event in Arizona. A typical year carries about 75 rides, 110 food booths and 300 commercial booths. The fairgrounds run as a self-supporting state agency, with no money from the state's General Fund. On site In 2025 ten stages ran through the grounds, each with its own program: the Culinary Stage for cooking demos and contests, the Backyard Stage for tribute bands, the Whiskey and Wine Stage for local bands, The Hangout for film screenings, sports broadcasts and beer, the Farm to Fair Stage for science and animal demonstrations, and the Desert Painted Stage with a different street artist each day. The Grandstand hosted Monster Trucks, Figure 8 Racing, a Native American Rodeo and a High School Rodeo. Guests can rent private Cabanas with a TV and bar, and the Great American Petting Zoo and the Thunderbird Model Railroad, a scale-model city more than 60 years old, sit among the barns. Audience Fairgoers arrive in groups, almost four to a party on average, and 55% stay five hours or longer. They name food, animals, rides, shopping and games as their top reasons to go, spend an average of $180 at the fair, and 81% come from Maricopa County, per the fair's 2025 sponsorship deck. Talent and Influencers The Coliseum Concert Series sells reserved seats that include fair admission, with one act a night at 7 p.m. and no openers. The 2026 series booked Gin Blossoms, Becky G, All Time Low, The Offspring, Russell Dickerson and Public Enemy. Track record The fair began in 1884 as the Arizona Territorial Fair near the Salt River and moved after the 1891 flood. It ran every year from 1946 to 2019; the 2020 cancellation was the first in 75 years, and the fair came back in 2021. In 2024 it added September Nights, an evening-only run over the first two weeks. Brand presence Sponsors can take the presenting role for the fair as a whole, name a stage or attach to a program day. In 2025 those included Feel Good Fridays, presented by Sanderson Ford, where ten cans of food buy free admission for St. Mary's Food Bank and Operation Santa Claus; a Friends 55+ free day with Humana; Armed Forces Day with VetTix; $3 Foodie Friday; and Read and Ride, which gives children three free rides for reading three books. Five video boards across the grounds run 15-second spots, and booth sponsors can add the fair app, email and social.