Overview The Colorado State Fair is an 11-day agricultural fair in Pueblo that closes on Labor Day, and it is older than the state: the first fair opened on October 9, 1872, four years before Colorado joined the Union. Livestock shows, horse shows, 4-H and the junior livestock sale share the grounds with a carnival, PRCA rodeo, motorsports and a concert calendar. The state runs it, through the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Its grounds cover 102 acres on Beulah Avenue and hold 14 historically significant structures, and they host events through the rest of the year. On site In 2025 the gates opened at 3 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. on weekends and Labor Day, and stayed open until 11 at night. The Big R Arena takes rodeo, arena concerts and the demolition derby. Monster trucks come the last weekend. Headline shows also play the Southwest Motors Events Center, and exhibits fill the Palace of Agriculture, the Creative Arts Building, the Small Animal Building and the Horse Show Complex. Free Fun on the Farm adds an inflatable corn maze, a petting farm and pedal tractor pulls at no charge. Fiesta Day brings folklorico dancers, mariachi and Celebración de los Charros, a Mexican charreada in the arena, followed in 2025 by Banda Machos. Audience Part of the crowd is exhibiting. 4-H members and livestock exhibitors show animals in the barns and the Horse Show Complex, and the junior livestock sale falls midway through the fair. The fair's own copy says Hispanic communities from all over Colorado come for Fiesta Day. Each day has its own crowd: Kids Days, Senior Day, $5 Fridays, and a quiet Sensory Friendly morning on Labor Day. Talent and Influencers The 2025 arena nights went to Lee Brice, Clay Walker and Cooper Alan. The Events Center booked Cheap Trick, Russell Dickerson, Flo Rida with Chamillionaire, Gabriel Iglesias, and a My Generation Tour bill of The Lovin' Spoonful, Gary Lewis and the Playboys and The Hollies. Track record A horse exhibition in 1869 drew about 2,000 people and became the fair. It was incorporated in 1886, received its first state appropriation in 1903, and in 1917 the state took the deed to the land. Both world wars shut it down, in 1917-18 and 1942-45. In 2020 it ran as drive-thru fair food. Brand presence The venues carry partners' names: in 2025 the Southwest Motors Events Center, the Big R Arena, the American Furniture Warehouse Amphitheater and the Pepsi Stage. Days carry names too. August 31, 2025 ran as Colorado Lottery Day, the same day as Fiesta Day. A Colorado State Fair Foundation sits beside the fair.