Moving the State Fair of Virginia to Caroline County didn’t seem to affect attendance at the annual event. The State Fair drew 247,958 people during its first year at The Meadow Event Park off state Route 30 in Doswell. That marks a 2.4 percent increase from last year, when 242,236 people visited during its final year in Henrico County, which it had called home for 63 years.

Now that the State Fair of Virginia has concluded its 11-day run at its new location in Caroline County, organizers are looking at ways to improve the event for next year—especially the parking. At times, the entrance to The Meadow Event Park in Doswell was a scene of gridlock and hourlong waits. Access to the parking areas at the State Fair site was from one entrance off state Route 30.

There was a flurry of activity throughout the Meadow Event Park yesterday as fairgoers turned out for the final day of the State Fair of Virginia. On one side of the 348-acre site was youth rodeo, where boys and girls roped goats or tried to ride a bucking bull for eight seconds. On another, a standing room only crowd at the Thrill Pit watched as Cindy Regimald of Tinmouth, Vt., won the demolition derby rollover competition by flipping her car the most times—one and three-quarters in the tie-breaker round.

The State Fair of Virginia welcomed guests to its new site, the Meadow Event Park in Caroline County, at the Black Tie and Boots benefit gala Sept. 23. Award-winning Virginia wines, gourmet food, auctions, live music and dancing, the midway grand illumination and private access to games and rides pulled in more than 480 guests on the eve of the fair’s opening. Approximately $40,000 was raised from the event.

At the Virginia State Fair in Caroline County Thursday, a Holstein cow named Rebecca licked her newborn bull calf, a 95-pounder named Milk Dud. Mother and baby were reportedly doing fine.

The Great Pumpkin is really, really big! Matthew Morris, 10, and his father, Bobby, of Burkeville, won the pumpkin contest yesterday at the State Fair of Virginia with an orange pumpkin weighing in at 1,057 pounds. It took a forklift to hoist the giant onto the scales. The pumpkin is the second largest ever presented at the fair. The Morrises grew it in their backyard.

Where: The Meadow Event Park, Doswell
  For more information:
http://www.statefair.com
They consist mostly of water.
They can gain as much as 30 pounds a day.
They take a lot of care and feeding.
They come from a special seed called Atlantic giant.

WEEK’S END The football oddsmakers have made “Bye” a 12-point favorite against the University of Virginia today.  And speaking of UVa in less snarky tones: Deborah Eisenberg writes acclaimed short stories and teaches at The University. This week she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.“ The honor is richly deserved. And while we love college sports (and have been rumored to root for the Wahoos), excellence in academics, especially in the liberal arts, more purposefully reflects the idea of higher education. Sports can contribute to collegiate life, and to the education of participants, but they too often get out of hand. Eisenberg won her genius grant by virtue of her writing. The recognition redounds to UVa’s benefit.

Leanne Fletcher and her two children have watched preparations for the grand opening of the State Fair of Virginia fairground for a while. “I live five minutes away,“ she said with a big grin. “I’ve been watching it go up from the dirt to the taking down of the fence and when they put it back up to the tent-setting.“ The State Fair began its 11-day run yesterday morning at a new location—The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County—but with the same thrills as in previous years. Droves of people enjoyed the rides, food and activities.

The State Fair of Virginia opened today in a new location but with the same fall thrills: people enjoying the rides, savoring the food and watching the animals. School groups from all over the state learned about Civil War history and other topics on a school tour set up for them as well. The state fair in the Meadow Event Park, near Kings Dominion in Caroline County, opened at 10 a.m. today after a ribbon cutting and dedication of the buildings. The event, which draws an average of 250,000 people a year, had been held in the Richmond Raceway Complex in Richmond until last year. It runs through Oct. 4.

Today is opening day of the State Fair of Virginia’s 11-day run, and the welcome mat is out at the new location, The Meadow Event Park, 1 mile east of Kings Dominion in Doswell.  Hours are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. (no entry after 9 p.m.). Exhibit buildings close at 9:30 p.m.

For the past 18 months, the State Fair of Virginia has been talking through the logistics of bringing hordes of visitors, plus funnel-cake vendors and racing pigs, to a new site in rural Caroline County. Now, the planning is giving way to the real thing.

1859: The fair moves to West Broad Street near the present-day Science Museum of Virginia, is suspended from 1861 to 1866 due to the Civil War.
  1906: Virginia State Fair Association organizes to revive the fair after a 10-year absence, uses a site along North Boulevard that’s now home to The Diamond.
  1946: The association reorganizes as Atlantic Rural Exposition Inc. and moves the fair to Strawberry Hill off Laburnum Avenue in rural Henrico County. The site eventually is shared through a lease with Richmond International Raceway.

The designation is part of a 20-year agreement signed two years ago in exchange for a one-time state appropriation of almost $2.4 million to help build the main exhibition hall at The Meadow Event Park.

The Richmond Fair is official. The carnival-style fair once planned for Henrico County will set up shop in the parking lots surrounding The Diamond starting Friday and running through July 26. The Richmond Metropolitan Authority, which owns The Diamond, confirmed yesterday afternoon that it had signed a contract for the event with Fair Nation Inc.