Nebraska State Fair
Coordinates: 40°50′08″N 96°41′14″W / 40.8356°N 96.687176°W The Nebraska State Fair is a state fair held annually in Grand Island. It is an approximately eleven-day event; since the early 1990s, the fair ends on Labor Day. Prior to 2010, the fair was held in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The first state fair was a territorial fair held September 21–23 in 1859 in Nebraska City. The next fair was held in Nebraska City on October 7–9, 1868; this was the first fair held after Nebraska became a state. Nebraska City also hosted the 1869 fair.
In 1870 and 1871, it was held in Brownville. From 1872 until 1901 the fair switched back and forth between Lincoln and Omaha. In Omaha it was held at the Omaha Driving Park in North Omaha. The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben ("Nebraska" spelled backwards) was formed in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to keep the fair in Omaha. In 1901, the Nebraska Legislature named the Lancaster County Fairgrounds in Lincoln as the official home.
Struggling with lowered attendance, the Nebraska State Fair was thought by some to be threatened with termination in the early years of the new millennium. It was added as a voluntary donation recipient to the annual state income tax and attendance rose enough in subsequent years to give it a second wind.
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