Alaska State Fair

By the Numbers

The Alaska State Fair began in 1936 as the Matanuska Valley Fair, a harvest festival organized by Matanuska Colony settlers. It's still held in Palmer today and is famous for its giant vegetables, grown in the long summer daylight of the valley.

Alaska State Fair Overview

Palmer is home to the Alaska State Fair, which is an 18-day late-August and Labor Day celebration in the Matanuska Valley, Alaska's premier annual fair drawing over 300,000 visitors to the fertile farmland of the Mat-Su Valley for giant vegetables, world-class entertainment, and the spirit of the Last Frontier. Since 1936, it's brought Alaska neighbors together year after year.

Good to Know

Palmer is in the Matanuska Valley where World War II-era homesteaders created Alaska's farming heartland — the 100-pound cabbages and thousand-pound pumpkins grown under Alaska's 20-hour summer days are genuinely astonishing.

Highlights

Expect record-breaking giant vegetables grown under the midnight sun, champion livestock shows, 4-H and FFA competitions, nationally known grandstand entertainment, Alaska Native arts and crafts, local food vendors, and the extraordinary community spirit of Alaska's agricultural heartland.

Nearby County Fairs