Illinois (i/ˌɪlɨˈnɔɪ/ IL-i-NOY) is the 25th most extensive and the 5th most populous of the 50 United States, and is often noted as a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a broad economic base. Illinois is a major transportation hub. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean; as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois River. For decades, O'Hare International Airport has ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics.
Although the state's largest population centers today are in northern Illinois, originally the state's population grew from south to north, with settlers arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s. In 1818, Illinois achieved statehood. Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River, one of the few natural harbors on southern Lake Michigan. Railroads and John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars. The Great Migration established a large community of African Americans in Chicago that created the city's famous jazz and blues cultures.
A state fair is a competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in their categories at the more-local county fairs.
Originally a state fair was just a competitive exhibition of livestock in various competitions, the display of farm products which were not necessarily for sale, and the competition among various fair goers and participants in such categories as handicrafts, baked goods, jams and jellies, etc., but has since been expanded to include carnival amusement rides and games, music, races, tests of strength and skill, etc. Large fairs can see more than a million visitors over the course of a week or two. The first official U.S. state fair was in Detroit, Michigan in 1849.
Events similar to state fairs are also held annually in each state capital in Australia, known as Royal Shows. Australian Royal shows are organized by state agricultural and horticultural societies, and are described further in the agricultural show article.
The Illinois State Fair is an annual festival, centering on the theme of agriculture, hosted by the U.S. state of Illinois in the state capital, Springfield. The state fair has been celebrated almost every year since 1853. In 2008 there were more than 700,000 visits, up five percent from 2005, making it the 13th largest state fair in the United States. Currently, the fair is held annually over a 10-day period in mid-August of each year. In 2012, the State Fair will be held on August 10-19. An admission fee is charged.
The first Illinois State Fair was celebrated in 1853 in Springfield. In that first year, the admission fee was 25 cents. The fair moved to Chicago in 1855. The 1850s were a golden age of agricultural journalism, with a wide variety of editors offering many suggestions, well-founded or not, to increase farm productivity. The first State Fairs, in Illinois and other states, were created and organized by farmers in order to compare notes with their colleagues and distinguish between good and bad advice.
Let me tell 'bout a kid I know.
We met a while ago.
At the State Fair.
He was showing his blue ribbon pig.
I was thinging big.
While I was combing my hair.
He was never like the other guys,
Selling curly-fries,
Or rigging the games.
4-H was his one true love.
We'd hang out above
The dunk-tank when it rains.
I'm gonna step-up, step-up, step-up.
I'm never, ever coming home.
I'm really into the boys that work there.
The feeling you get when your ticket they tear.
Four days in May: The State Fair!
I used to go out with the other man.
He ran the sno-cone stand.
He looked good from behind.
I like a baggy kind of overall.
They don't really show at all.
I can use my mind
I'm gonna step-up, step-up, step-up.
I'm never, ever coming home.
Nineteen hundred seventy three
My second cousin Calvin and me
We loaded down his old blue green Corvair
And headed for the State Fair
Was mid October and the autumn breeze
Shook the colors out of the trees
Time was passing but who were we to care
We were headed for the State Fair
And I remember Calvin reaching underneath the dash
Pulling out that pack of cigarettes that he kept stashed
For half the morning we blew smoke rings in the air
Like two big fat millionaires
It happened way out on route twenty nine
Some drunk driver came across the yellow line
Calvin's momma cried and his daddy sat and stared
Life can sure be unfair
It's been so long since that dark day
I thought by now I'd have put the past away
But just this morning I found myself back there
Going to the State Fair
And I remember Calvin reaching underneath the dash
Pulling out that pack of cigarettes that he kept stashed
For half the morning we blew smoke rings in the air