The State Fair of Texas opens Friday, September 25, and runs 24 days through Sunday, October 18, at Fair Park. This is the fair’s 140th year, and the theme is “Stars, Stripes, and Howdies.” Gates open at 10 a.m. daily, closing at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with last entry at 9.
The change you will notice before you notice anything else: the Chevrolet Main Stage has moved inside Fair Park Coliseum. After decades of standing in the sun or the rain on a patch of concrete, waiting out a sound check, fairgoers now get a roof, real seats and climate control. Elvis Presley, Selena, Destiny’s Child and Garth Brooks all played the old setup. The Coliseum is a different animal, and for an October night in Dallas that swings from 94 degrees to a thunderstorm, it is a welcome one.
Here is the part that matters most, and the fair has been clear about it: nothing about access changed. Main Stage concerts are still free with general admission. There is no separate concert ticket, no wristband, no upcharge. Seating inside the Coliseum is first come, first served, so if you want to be close for a name act on a Saturday, get in the building early rather than showing up at showtime. There is a designated area for guests with disabilities near the front of the stage.
Most nights the headliner goes on at 7:45 p.m. A handful of dates stack multiple acts and start earlier in the afternoon, and a few Saturdays run late. The daily schedule is the only thing worth trusting the day of, since set times do shift.
Clint Black opens the run on September 25. From there the country and classic rock side of the lineup carries a lot of the weight: Lee Brice on September 30, Kansas on October 4, Queensrÿche on October 7, RaeLynn on October 14 and Muscadine Bloodline on October 16. Bowling for Soup, who have been a North Texas institution for thirty years now, play September 29.
The night to circle is Sunday, October 11. Deep Blue Something, Tripping Daisy and the Toadies share the bill, which is as close to a Deep Ellum reunion as the fair has ever booked. Three bands that came out of this city in the nineties, on one stage, indoors, for the price of a fair ticket. If you only make one trip to the Coliseum this year, make it that one.
Younger audiences get October 12, with Iann Dior, Adrien Nunez and Vwillz, and October 17, when Gym Class Heroes and 3OH!3 play back to back. Two Friends brings the electro-pop end of things on October 9, and Paul Wall’s Fall Ball lands October 10, the same day as the Red River game, which should make for a loud afternoon and a louder night.
The fair also gave real space to Spanish-language music. Geru Y Su LegÃón 7 and La Alianza Norteña both play September 27, and the run closes October 18 with the Last Bandoleros performing a tribute to Emilio Navaira, which is a genuinely good way to send the season off. Joy Oladokun plays October 5, Josh Weathers October 2, and the tribute and novelty acts fill in around them: Petty Theft on September 28, Mini Kiss on October 1, the Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular on October 3, the Red Hot Chili Pipers on October 8, and an ABBA tribute on October 15. Maggie Antone plays October 13 and Tyler Nance October 6.
The Main Stage is one of four. State Fair Records is back for an eighth year programming the Bud Light Stage with local and regional acts, and this year the label is also booking the new ZiegenBock Stage at the renovated Old Mill Inn, near Big Tex Circle, where you can sit down with food and a drink while you listen. The White Claw Spotlight Stage at the Grove on Nimitz pulls from the Dallas Music Office roster and hosts Deep Fried Comedy on Friday nights. All told, close to 100 artists across the 24 days, all of it included with admission. The full schedule is at BigTex.com/livemusic.
Let the Kids go Crazy
Away from the stages, the biggest addition is Little Lone Stars Land, a new area next to the Gurley Gate and the Craft Pavilion built for toddlers and young kids, with its own rides, food and shows. The Kidway got a full redesign with a larger footprint and more family rides. The Fringe Stage moved into Little Lone Stars Land, where Wacky Chad performs pogo stick and unicycle stunt comedy September 25 through October 6, strongman Mighty Mike bends horseshoes and juggles sledgehammers, and the USA Breakdancers take over October 7 through 18.
From October 2 through 4, a drone show called Stars of the Fair lights up the sky over Fair Park, produced with Coppell-based Sky Elements. Two shows each night, around 8:15 and 9:15 p.m. Three nights only.
The Esplanade fountain no longer waits for dark. Daily fountain shows now run every 30 minutes from 1 to 5 p.m. along the 700-foot reflecting pool, with the Mattress Firm Illumination Sensation still taking over after sunset. The Starlight Parade rolls through the grounds every one of the 24 nights, with two new floats from Kern Studios in New Orleans joining the regulars.
Pan Am Arena has a new horse show, Texas in the Saddle, with riders and horses from across Texas and abroad. If you want to see the animals up close without the production around them, Beyond the Saddle is an educational display in the stalls across from the Briscoe Carpenter Livestock Center.
The Hall of State is doing serious work this year. Mundo Latino: DÃa de los Muertos is settled in there now, joined by “Blazing New Trails: 125 Years of Texas Woman’s University” and “Unquiet Legacies: Dynamic Dallas Women,” the latter covering the women who built institutions and movements in this city and rarely got the building named after them.
The African American Museum is hosting Mandela: The Official Exhibition, making its Texas debut and spanning all four galleries. It traces Nelson Mandela’s life from the Eastern Cape through the apartheid years to the presidency, told largely through his own words and those of his family. Admission to the museum is included with your fair ticket.
The Black Academy of Arts and Letters returns for its second year at the fair, celebrating its 50th anniversary season. While TBAAL is temporarily housed at The Women’s Museum, it is running the Eva Jessye Gift Shop, an air-conditioned membership lounge, and “Eminence Rising: 150 Years of Prairie View A&M University.”
Cotton Bowl Stadium has three dates. The State Fair Classic between Grambling State and Prairie View A&M kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday, September 26, and the halftime Battle of the Bands is worth the ticket on its own. The Allstate Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas goes at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, October 10, the 97th straight meeting on neutral ground. And the State Fair Clásico returns October 17, with Dallas Trinity FC facing Chivas Femenil. Tickets to all three include fair admission.
On the food side, the Big Tex Choice Awards crowned four winners in August from a field of 15. Best Taste Savory went to Tom Grace for Burger Chop Tater Tacos, a chopped burger with sauteed onions and jalapeños over a taco shell formed from cheddar tater tots, $16. Best Taste Sweet went to Beck Fletcher for the Fletcher’s Chocolate Corny Dog, milk chocolate fudge dipped in the original corny dog batter and fried, with vanilla icing standing in for mustard and raspberry compote for ketchup. It is $7, the best value of the four, and the first time Fletcher’s has won since the family started frying in 1942. FruterÃa Cano took the Sipper category with Tropical Coco Fresca, and Stephen El Gidi won Most Creative for Berry Me in Matcha, cheesecake dipped in white chocolate and rolled in crushed matcha cookies. Every Thursday, participating vendors drop prices on signature items for Thrifty Thursday.
Prices came down this year after the fair caught real heat about cost in 2025. Adult admission at the gate is $15 Monday through Thursday and $25 Friday through Sunday. Kids 3 to 12 pay $10 every single day, which is a 54 percent cut on weekends. Two and under are free. Seniors 60 and up pay $13 on weekdays, $20 on weekends, and $7 on Senior Day Thursdays. After 5 p.m., everyone 13 and up gets in for $10 Monday through Thursday and $20 Friday through Sunday. Official parking dropped $5 to $25. Online prices include processing fees and run higher than the gate.
The discounts stack up if you plan around them. Bring two jars of peanut butter for the North Texas Food Bank on opening day and admission is $10. Bring five canned goods any Wednesday and it is $7. Military, veterans and first responders save $5 any day with ID. The digital season pass is $52 and the commemorative hard card is $60 at the gate, which includes a bring-a-friend ticket and admission to Texas Discovery Gardens. Tickets are here.
Skip the parking hunt if you can. The DART Green Line drops you at Fair Park Station on Parry Avenue, right at the entrance, or MLK Jr. Station near Gate 6. Details are on the fair’s getting here page.
A word on access, because it gets buried every year. Sensory-Friendly Mornings run every Wednesday, with the Midway opening at 11 a.m. and lights and sound turned down until 1:30 p.m. Wheelchairs, mobility scooters, wagons and strollers rent through HomeTown Mobility at the Front Gate, Grand Avenue (Gate 5), the Pennsylvania pedestrian entrance (Gate 11) and the Pan Am Gate. Reserve at least 24 hours ahead at htmia.com or by calling 712-938-2029, and bring a driver’s license or state ID. Sign language interpretation is offered at select shows, listed in the daily schedule. Accessible parking requires a valid placard or plate. The full rundown is on the fair’s accessibility page.
Big Tex has new clothes this year, a redesigned Western shirt from Cavender’s and a fresh 95-gallon Resistol. He will say howdy the same way he always has. Everything else, from the Coliseum to the Kidway to the price of a kid’s ticket, is different enough that even people who have been coming for forty years should look at the map before they go.
