Overview The Michigan State Fair is a Labor Day weekend fair in Novi, run as a private company with no taxpayer funding, that carries on a state fair first held in Detroit in 1849. The original fair moved to the fairgrounds at Eight Mile and Woodward in 1905 and ran there until 2009, when the state stopped funding it; its peak crowd, 1.2 million, came in 1966. After a 2012 revival by a nonprofit, Michigan State Fair LLC staged the 2013 fair at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, since renamed the Vibe Credit Union Showplace, with Fifth Third Bank as title sponsor. On site The fair fills the Showplace halls and the grounds outside. The Detroit Shrine Circus plays under its own tents. A carnival midway, livestock arenas and a Beginning of Life area sit alongside the Main Stage, home to the State Fair Superstar performances, an Entertainment Pavilion, a Community and Cultural Stage and a cooking and agriculture demo stage. There is a Tiny Tottville area, and the Racing Pigs, the Rock N' Roll K9s and Contest Central fill out the day. Thursday is Senior Day, with free admission for seniors and a program of its own. Summer's Last Blast is the fireworks show, and the Moovin' Thru the Midway 5K and a Friends of the Fair charity preview night are part of the schedule. Audience In 2023 visitors came from 42 states, from 281 Michigan cities, villages and townships, and from eight countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Japan. Track record The fair's own chart shows attendance climbing most years from the 2013 relaunch, with a virtual fair in 2020, and 2023 drew 220,859. The fair counted $1.1 million given back to the community in 2023 and $6,503,000 to charities and community groups by then, along with 632 youth scholarships. The 2024 packet paired Kroger with Feeding Michigan Families: discounted early tickets at Southeast Michigan stores, $2 of each going to feed Michigan families, and canned goods collected at the fair entrance for low-income families. Brand presence The presenting partner's name goes into the fair's own name and logo, and Ram Trucks was the most recent presenting partner in the 2024 packet. Below it, partners put their names on the fair's pieces: the midway, the Shrine Circus, where the partner can send a guest ringmaster, Senior Day, parking, the 5K, the Main Stage, the Entertainment Pavilion, the fireworks, Tiny Tottville, the livestock arenas and the smaller stages and shows. Every partner can sell or sample on site, and the top partners keep a display in the Showplace pre-function area all year.