Paislee Rogers, 4, hadn’t even reached the bottom of the Ohio State Fair’s giant slide before she proclaimed herself ready for another climb up the stairs and another glide down one of its rainbow-colored lanes.
“I want to do it again” she squealed, jumping up and down around her mother, Emilee Rogers. As if the red lane wasn’t fun enough, Paislee decided pink would be an even bigger thrill for ride No. 2.
Her mother, who came up with the family from Winchester, a small village in Adams County, didn’t put much effort into convincing Paislee to try a smaller version of the slide nearby.
It’s always someone’s first time at the fair.
The Ohio State Fair opened July 23, during the midsummer heat and under bright, cloudless skies — not that anyone was complaining.
Its 12-day run through Aug. 3 at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds will draw people from every part of the state: 4-year-old ride enthusiasts, teenage livestock exhibitors, nervous parents of kids in both categories, competitive quilters and Christmas-tree growers, concertgoers, food-on-a-stick lovers and those who love food on a stick even more if it’s deep-fried.
Ohio State Fair’s oldest traditions
Minutes after Gov. Mike DeWine clipped the ribbon at 9 a.m. to open the 2025 fair on July 23, Trixie, a Southdown sheep, got ready for her close-up. Bailey Brause squirted shampoo on the animal’s back as her mom, Mandy, sprayed Trixie with water.
“She’s got a very spicy attitude, but we still love her,” Mandy said of the sheep, one of hundreds paraded around the fairgrounds’ Brown Sheep Building under the watchful eyes of judges who are trained to spot certain differences between one sheep and another.
By 10:30 a.m., Bailey sat with Trixie, awaiting their turn in a class of about 30 Southland sheep. She patted the sheep’s neck and fidgeted with its lead. Neither is new at this sheep competition thing; the duo placed second at the Crawford County Fair earlier in July.
Bailey survived a few rounds of the judge’s decisions for narrowing the field, but finished outside the top five in her category.
Elsewhere around the fairgrounds, young people who’ve dedicated months and years to raising animals will show their cattle, swine, horses, rabbits, and poultry of all types.
Livestock exhibits are the fair’s oldest tradition and were the reason for its creation. They were part of The Dispatch’s coverage of the first Ohio State Fair at the current fairgrounds back in 1886.
What kind of food is at the fair?
The Ohio State Fair isn’t all about weird twists on lemonade — buckeye lemonade with peanut butter and chocolate is a fair first this year — and other bizarre foods. For every honey-bun bacon cheeseburger on the midway, there are a dozen or more options for good old Ohio fair food.
Corn dogs, regular dogs, fries, turkey legs, cheesesteaks, pizza slices and snow cones are plentiful.
What’s on a stick this year? Steak, chocolate-covered frozen bananas, cheesecake and meatballs (three that are covered with cheese, breaded and deep-fried), among other things.
And what’s deep-fried besides those meatballs? Swiss cheese, Twinkies, Snickers bars, Oreo cookies and funnel cakes with Oreo cookies top the list.
But what about those weird fair foods?
More than a dozen people stood in line for the Ohio Poultry Association’s much-hyped deviled eggs sale, one of the state fair’s newer traditions, at its booth in the Taste of Ohio Pavilion. From bubble gum to cotton candy to this year’s chocolate chip cookie dough, the organization for the state’s poultry farmers comes up with flavors few other Ohioans would dream of putting on a hard-boiled half of an egg white.
“Yeah, it tastes pretty good,” said Alex Mabry, of Columbus, the apparent designated taster among his group of friends for the chocolate chip cookie dough deviled egg.
Mabry had done some thinking about it and came to the conclusion that eggs and egg yolks are in a lot of desserts. What could be so bad about a chocolate chip cookie dough deviled egg?
Then again…
“I got the dill pickle one as a backup, just in case,” he said.
The fair isn’t all fun and games
Kara Razek has been competing at the Ohio State Fair for the last three years. Her arena is far from the sheep barn or the poultry pavilion, though. On the fair’s opening day, she sat in a shady spot behind a fair information booth with her easel, a drooping sun hat and a palette of paints.
Artists like Razek are scattered around the fairgrounds trying to capture the magic on canvas. Their artistic showdown isn’t the only competition at the 2025 fair. Ohioans are battling to be the best in everything from building scarecrows to showing dogs.
Razek chose to capture the ominous slide towering over the fairgrounds. With pastel colors and a sky-blue background, she’s trying to improve on her honorable mention from 2024.
If you’re planning to go to the Ohio State Fair…
The Ohio State Fair is open through Aug. 3. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on closing day.
Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for children ages 6 to 12 and adults over age 60, and free for children younger than 6.
Parking is $10.
Dispatch reporter Bob Vitale can be reached at rvitale@dispatch.com. Dispatch reporter Sarah Sollinger can be reached at ssollinger@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: The 2025 Ohio State Fair opens with sunshine, joy and age-old traditions
Reporting by Bob Vitale and Sarah Sollinger, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
