You can smell it in the air: the corndogs, fried dough, cotton candy, all staples at The Granite State Fair. The GSF concluded on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. It went out with a real bang (quite literally) with their annual Demolition Derby, featuring dozens of cars being driven by excited people, ready to burn off energy by smashing into each other.
There’s something so American and nostalgic about walking around the fair, eating a caramel apple, and watching the Ferris wheel turn. The lights blinking on all the rides, the noises of the carnival games, and the guys yelling from the games trying to convince you that you’ll be a winner (never once in my life has it happened). My personal favorite thing about the fair is always seeing the animals. I am a sucker for baby animals, including the whole pile of baby pigs we encountered that had just been born on Friday. Other standouts were the Highland Cattle and the miniature donkeys. Some of the farm animals were even for sale, but I sadly could not convince my husband to let me buy Tony, the all white donkey (pictured).
The Granite State Fair has been around since the late 1800s, originally under the name of The Rochester Fair (since it takes place in Rochester, NH). It has mainly been an agricultural fair, featuring homegrown competitions and animals, but throughout time, it has added more current activities and attractions to keep people coming back. One of the biggest annual draws to the fair is the school bus demolition derby. It is exactly like it sounds, a demolition derby of men driving school buses into each other until the buses break down, and the last one standing wins. It’s thoroughly entertaining. It draws about seven to ten thousand people on the two Saturday nights of the fair. In recent years, the fair has also brought in the Hollywood Circus (a New England exclusive), a traveling circus that features stunt performers, rather than using animals.
The fair offers plenty of fun for the whole family, with rides for little kids as well as kids at heart. There are plenty of food options like barbecue, French fries, and even fried pickle chips. A standout food you must try is the homemade hot apple crisp with ice cream.
So, whether you want to walk around and people watch, see some vehicles crash and set on fire, or meet a baby goat named Broccoli (pictured), there’s always fun to be had at the Granite State Fair. While this year’s fair has passed, there are still plenty of fairs for you to visit this fall season, including:
The Fryeburg Fair (Fryeburg, ME) Sept. 28 - Oct. 5
The Topsfield Fair (Topsfield, MA) Oct. 3 - 13
The Sandwich Fair (Sandwich, NH) Oct. 11 - 13
I hope you all enjoy the fair season in New England; it’s a special time to spend with family or friends. Try something new, like maple cotton candy or hand-feeding baby goats. Get out there and enjoy yourself!
