6 Quirky U.S. State Fair Traditions

The first official state fair was held in 1841 in Syracuse, New York. Since then, the tradition of gathering people together to view livestock and farming equipment has spread across the nation. Over the years, state fairs have grown ever-more elaborate in some ways, attracting everyone from presidents to daredevils and serving up creatively deep-fried foods. Yet some state fairs are more unusual than others. How many of these quirky state fair attractions have you heard of?The Iowa State Fair’s Butter CowColorado’s Pet Rock CompetitionIowa’s Husband Calling CompetitionLlama and Alpaca-Dressing ContestsNorth Dakota’s Redneck RelayNew Mexico’s Unique Food ContestThe Iowa State Fair’s Butter CowThe butter cow at the opening of The Iowa State Fair | Bloomberg/GettyImagesEach year, the Iowa State Fair displays a hulking cow made of about 600 pounds of butter in the coolers of the Agricultural Building on the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. The first butter cow was made in 1911 by J. K. Daniels, and the delicate art of crafting this creature has been passed down through just five sculptors over the years. The sculpture starts with a wood, metal, wire, and steel mesh frame, and is kept inside a 40-degree cooler while gobs of butter are overlaid in the shape of a cow. The final product stands about five and a half feet high and eight feet long. After the fairs, much of the butter is packaged up and kept safe for use in next year’s creation.Colorado’s Pet Rock CompetitionPhoto of pet rock with googly eyes | txking / ShutterstockMany people have great memories of creating “pet rocks” in science classes when they were kids. In Colorado, pet rocks get their moment in the spotlight through the Colorado State Fair’s pet rock competition. This challenge sees rocks compete in various categories, including “best dressed” and a competition where people see how far they can roll their stones. These competitions are usually divided by age, but united by a deep love for all things pet rock. Iowa’s Husband Calling CompetitionThe Iowa State Fair has so many unique traditions, from beard-growing contests to chip-throwing competitions, that it has to appear on here twice. This competition might be the most unique of all, though. It offers a $5 prize to whichever wife can do the best job of calling their husband. This practice harkens back to the days when wives used to shout for their husbands to return from the fields for dinner. Today, it’s held onstage and draws a large crowd, who all gather to see women yell and scream their husbands’ names into megaphones just like they did in the cell phone-free days of yesteryear.Llama and Alpaca-Dressing Contests2025 Minnesota State Fair llama-alpaca costume contest | Star Tribune via Getty Images/GettyImagesLlama and alpaca-dressing contests are staples at multiple state fairs across the U.S. No, these are not competitions where people dress as animals; they involve actually dressing these wooly creatures in costumes. This tradition is part of the Nebraska, Indiana, and Minnesota state fairs, and it can get extremely competitive, with people creating elaborate designs for their animals. The competition is also an excuse to give llamas and alpacas a little bit of necessary training along the way—and it’s also a great opportunity to see llamas wearing Hawaiian shirts, bow ties, and other very human accessories. North Dakota’s Redneck RelayThere are plenty of competitions at your average state fair, from hackey-sack races to baking contests. Yet North Dakota’s Redneck Relay just might take the cake for the messiest and most full-on competition of them all. This rowdy event famously involves a variety of challenges, including hauling greased watermelons, devouring whipped cream pies, drinking moonshine, and much, much more. New Mexico’s Unique Food ContestWeird foods are staples across state fairs, from deep-fried butter and deep-fried Coca-Cola to pickles wrapped in Fruit-Roll-Ups, chocolate, and Pop Rocks. New Mexico has a particularly fun tradition that challenges people to make the weirdest foods they can—while also keeping them delicious. Previous winners include 2025’s “Sweet and Spicy Spam Fries,” and 2024 was a tie between the Belgian Waffle Green Chile Cheeseburger and the Conductor’s Corn Dog. The latter is a hot dog dipped in corn dog batter and swathed in bacon, fried cheese curd, Hatch green chile, and other delicacies that you would not necessarily think would go together, but that clearly somehow worked like only an extremely fried item on a hot summer day at a state fair could.