Overview The Missouri State Fair is eleven days of August in Sedalia built around Missouri agriculture: 28,428 livestock and competitive exhibit entries came through in 2024, and more than 3,000 4-H and FFA members take part each year. A division of the Missouri Department of Agriculture runs it, overseen by a nine-member State Fair Commission. Sedalia was picked as its home in 1899 and the first fair ran in 1901. The fairgrounds, listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, stay open year-round for horse and livestock shows, craft festivals, camping and rallies. On site The Grandstand carries the ticketed concerts, truck and tractor pulls and auto races; Alabama, Warren Zeiders and Ludacris were the most popular shows of 2024. Around it run the carnival midway, a free entertainment stage, the draft horse show, the opening-day parade, the queen contest and the Governor's Ham Breakfast. Midwest Dairy's Gerken Dairy Center sells an official fair ice cream flavor; the first, Kingdom Crunchdown for the Kansas City Chiefs, was picked by Governor Mike Parson in 2024 and sold more than 600 treats. The Sale of Champions and Best of Missouri Sale raised more than $350,000 for young exhibitors that year, and ground was broken on a new indoor arena, the Governor Michael L. Parson Arena. Audience In the fair's 2024 survey of 3,520 fairgoers, 81% said they come every year, 42% stay two to four days and 13% stay all eleven. Family tradition was the top reason to come, ahead of the livestock and exhibits and then the concerts, and 19% camp on the grounds. About half the crowd comes from central Missouri. Track record Attendance: 337,112 in 2019, 330,125 in 2021, 340,031 in 2022, 349,048 in 2023, 345,643 in 2024 and 333,489 in 2026. More than 53,000 came through on the first Saturday of 2024, the carnival's biggest revenue day that year. The fair's Drive to Feed Kids provided 711,000 meals in 2024. Brand presence Sponsorship runs on nine levels named for fair ribbons, from Grand Champion down to Friend of the Fair, and a partner can put its name on a piece of the fair to match: a day, the Grandstand or the fireworks at the top, the draft horse show or the free stage below that, down to tram stops, senior tram rides and fire station demos. The upper levels can host a company picnic in the Director's Pavilion or VIP tent and run a 30-second spot on the Grandstand big screen during concerts, and sponsor logos go on fairgrounds maps that stay up all year.