# Freedom 250 - The Great American State Fair **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 29, 2026, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470 "2026-05-29T03:08:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 42
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/821 "2026-07-08T01:25:58Z")
I can’t help but compare this “Great American State Fair” with the Calgary Stampede, which is taking place right now. 10 days - 1.4 million people expected to attend. Huge midway - 70 rides, not just one stupid ferris wheel Hundred of food vendors, with some really interesting and innovative choices Exhibits, booths, animals Largest outdoor rodeo over 10 days, with over 2 million in prize money Evening show every night, with entertainment, chuckwagon races and fireworks Over 150 artists across 10 venues, including Alanis Morissette, A$AP Rocky, Deadmau5, The Beaches, Alessia Cara, and Mother Mother. And a whole lot more. They do this every single year since 1923, so they know what they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/822 "2026-07-08T02:46:22Z")
> [@RAWDuke](#): > > The **National Park Service** , which historically managed crowd estimates for the Mall, no longer releases official attendance figures for such events, leaving no authoritative data to confirm or refute the President’s claims. Consequently, the only concrete numbers available are the unverified estimates provided by the President himself. St. Louis had the same problem with its annual July 4 celebration at the Arch (which is run by the National Park Service). The Service used some formula to calculate how long people stayed and averaged it over the length of event, using a grid pattern to count people at given times. At some point in the mid-1990’s the Service got tired of people questioning the numbers and announced it was getting out of the crowd-estimation business. Without something like limited entrances and turnstiles, it’s damn near impossible to really get a good handle on crowd size, even with overhead photography. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/823 "2026-07-08T03:02:51Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I can’t help but compare this “Great American State Fair” with the Calgary Stampede, which is taking place right now. Good comparison. I’ve been to the Stampede many times. Plenty of fun on the midway with the rides and games, excitement at the rodeo, interesting exhibits, food that is guaranteed to clog your arteries, a casino, beer gardens with music, and lots of other fun things to see and do. The Great American State Fair looks awfully boring in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/824 "2026-07-08T03:38:37Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > I am very aware of the damage that Walmart has done to the retail sector in this country. That said, yes I shop at Walmart regularly. I just spent over $200 there on Sunday to stock up on staples for myself and my wife. Wow. How many staplers do you own? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/825 "2026-07-08T04:17:44Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > …Without something like limited entrances and turnstiles, it’s damn near impossible to really get a good handle on crowd size, even with overhead photography. ISTR a dispute between rival South American politicians awhile back. They each had rallies in the same large public square, a week or two apart, and each boasted that he drew the bigger crowd. A newspaper closely analyzed aerial photos of each rally and determined that _both_ politicians had overestimated their crowd sizes. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/826 "2026-07-08T09:18:52Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > 450,000 people is an Indianapolis 500 sized crowd. Well, that is obviously twice as old as Freedom 250, so not that surprising. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/827 "2026-07-08T11:03:59Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Wow. How many staplers do you own? I don’t know, but I’ll bet they came shrink-wrapped on a palette ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/828 "2026-07-08T11:28:16Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Good comparison. I’ve been to the Stampede many times. Plenty of fun on the midway with the rides and games, excitement at the rodeo, interesting exhibits, food that is guaranteed to clog your arteries, a casino, beer gardens with music, and lots of other fun things to see and do. > > The Great American State Fair looks awfully boring in comparison. Heck, The Great American State Fair looks boring compelled to The Topsfield Fair held in Topsfield, a town of 6.500 people about 25 miles north of Boston. (They’ve been holding them almost every year since 1818, so they know what they’re doing. And they’ve got a big Midway and lots of performers, and it always looks a lot busier than those photos. TGASF didn’t even have one Giant Pumpkin.) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/829 "2026-07-08T11:43:37Z")
I’ve been to weekly farmers markets that were more entertaining and better attended than this thing looked. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/830 "2026-07-08T12:27:51Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > > Unfortunately, in our world, Trump and the Democratic leaders have deepened the nation’s divisions. > > It’s not a both sides situation. It’s all on him. There was a one-panel newspaper cartoon by Dick Guindon (sort of a proto-Far Side). One had a middle-aged man telling his wife something along the lines of “We’d get along better if you always did things my way”. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/831 "2026-07-08T13:01:53Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > There was a one-panel newspaper cartoon by Dick Guindon (sort of a proto-Far Side). I have a collection of his, _The World According to Carp_, around here somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/832 "2026-07-09T01:02:31Z")
I’d crawl to The Stampede just to smell the socks of The Beaches bass player. I blame Brett. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/833 "2026-07-09T02:11:31Z")
Are/were there any state fairs that were as absolutely cheap ass pitiful as this one was? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/834 "2026-07-09T02:20:42Z")
I once represented my company at a college job fair that was about as well attended. To be fair, there was a hurricane (Ike, I think) approaching the city, which may have affected turnout. Still picked up a fair few resumes, though ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/835 "2026-07-09T11:58:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Of course the legit point is that those are places Americans consider commonplace, unworthy of special mention. Even if, like me, somebody doesn’t shop at Wal\*Mart, they know what it is and consider it ordinary. The more I think about the article, the more it pisses me off. I saw a Legal Eagle video the story of how Trump stole the show (as it were), including funding and deceiving donors. Grrrr. But back to this: What the fuck is so special about Chick Fil-A? I took my kids there and it just seems like another fast food place. I think a lot of Americans overestimate the awe of large stores. I’ve directly heard from hundreds of Asians about their trips to the States over the years and no one talks about their trips to Walmarts. Japan and Taiwan have had Costcos for decades now so that isn’t anything special. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/836 "2026-07-09T12:13:10Z")
This just reminds me of Tucker Carlson’s visit to a grocery store in Russia, where he was amazed at travelators and carts with locks. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/837 "2026-07-09T12:18:19Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > What the fuck is so special about Chick Fil-A? I took my kids there and it just seems like another fast food place. > > I think a lot of Americans overestimate the awe of large stores. I think most of the awe (good word) about large stores is manufactured by the store owners and is lapped up by Middle America (the social / economic class, not the geographical area) who then dutifully traipse over to see the latest Bass Pro or whatever. Like you, I doubt most foreign tourists are that interested in the USA Big Box phenomenon. At least not after a first glance into one. If we rewind to the e.g. 1960s, there were no big box stores. There were department stores, and Sears, and … that’s about it. Which in smaller cites and towns were small affairs. Small disconnected towns were also a LOT more common in 1965 than they are in 2025. So many have either grown together into giant metroblobs, or all but died if they’re too far out in ruralia. Then came the era of big-boxing starting in the late 1970s. Home Depots were incredible compared to the Mom & Pop hardware stores that went before. So much merch under one roof!!! Then more flavors of big box store were invented: the so called “category killers”. Best Buy & Circuit City swept away nearly all the independent electronics retailers. etc. Here in 2026 the era of big-boxing ever more genres of goods is just about over. Amazon started strangling new category killers in the cradle 15-20 years ago, then COVID whacked a lot of the dazed struggling survivors. e.g. Circuit City is dead and gone and Best Buy is on its last legs. But the cultural habit of going wild (on cue from management) when a new big box or overgrown fancy convenience market or whatever first comes to your own town. Buzz generates sales, and the sheeple lurve to pass along local buzz about nearly anything. All that differs is the scale that excites the local populace. A shiny new Wawa might excite the residents of e.g. Bumfuque Montana, but it takes something more extravagant to wow the many more residents of e.g. Chicago. So we might be seeing the end of the Big Box as a locals’ attraction. Might. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/838 "2026-07-09T12:20:03Z")
US commerce and culture is so ubiquitous around the world now, there isn’t much left for a visitor to the US to be surprised by. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/839 "2026-07-09T12:24:34Z")
Sad but true. I was recently vacationing in Italy. GF & I were walking down a smart shopping street lined with cute little eateries and designer boutiques and such. Plus a few tourist souvenir schlock outlets. Most of the eateries and about half the non-schlock stores were unfamiliar to me. The rest could be had at the mall in my 'burb. Certainly some of the boutique products were Italian designers, and so the (expensive) shoe is on the other foot so to speak. It is they who’ve colonized my hometown mall, not vice versa. Same for French products who’ve colonized both Italy and the USA. But plenty of the branded stores I saw were US-founded and US-based, regardless of where their merchandise is manufactured (read “China”). Global commerce is real neat in many ways. But it does have the effect of drowning out a lot of what had been local color. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470/840 "2026-07-09T12:28:55Z")
Actually, what would probably shock a foreign visitor to my California town of 50,000 is that we don’t have a KFC. That’s unheard of in most of the world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470.md?page=41) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedom-250-the-great-american-state-fair/1030470.md?page=43)