February 4, 2026 • 8 mins
The 2026 Florida State Fair opens Thursday (Feb. 5) and runs through Monday (Feb. 16/ President's Day). Executive director Cheryl Flood joins us to talk about events, attractions, a very big wheel, and of course, fair food.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird with Beyond the News. As has been the
case for more than a century, February is Florida State
Fair time. The fair gets underway at the State Fairgrounds
on US three oh one, a I four in Tampa
coming up, and Cheryl Flood, the executive director of the
State Fair, is here to join us to talk about it.
(00:20):
Cheryl Flood, welcome to Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Thank you for having me on all right now.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Of course, the first thing a lot of people zero
in on when they hear about the State Fair is
all of the fair foods and all of the new
fair foods that come online every year, and it seems
like we have a whole new lineup of them coming
out every year. And before we get into that, one
of the reasons that we see so many rolled out,
I suspect has a lot to do with the fact
(00:48):
that the Florida State Fair is historically the first state
fair in the nation.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It is we are the first state fair in the nation.
The one thing really unique about this year is our
countries celebrate America two fifty, so we will be celebrating
America two fifty with our nation, and we are the
America's Sunday celebration this year, So we'll be hosting a
ton of events around the history of America, red white,
and Blue, and have a lot of entertainment and food
(01:17):
and all types of activities for the public to do
centered around that theme.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
And of course the date is February fifth through sixteenth,
which means it always ends on Residence Day and which
is certainly a relevant holiday when you talk about the
history of the nation, and you've always incorporated a big
part of Florida's history into the fair with Cracker Country.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
We do. So you'll see Cracker Country all decked out
this year in period time around that history of America.
So it'll be a beautiful setting with a lot of
bluegrass and demonstrations under the oaks. It'll be beautiful weather,
so we invite people to come out and enjoy relaxing time.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
There, hoping for a lot of red, white and blue
bunting that's so traditionally America. It's like an opening day
of baseball season and things like that.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
It is you know what's exciting is we will be
debuting the America two point fifty Wheel this year, which
is one of the largest traveling observation wheel in the world.
It'll sit two hundred and thirty feet tall and have
over forty five gondolas, and each gondola will represent a
US president, which will be really exciting for it to
(02:24):
be debuting right here at the State Fair.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
That's going to be quite a sight to see, even
if you just drive by on the road.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I'm sure it is. It's about double the size of
the big wheel that we had here previously.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now you've got the list of new Fair foods out
this year, and you know that they explain themselves. So
if you want to zero in on a couple of
them and just tell us, tell us what new culinary
concoctions have been conceived of in the minds of the
geniuses who put together those foods.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You know what. Every year it's so exciting, you know,
people travel across the country to kind of see what
we have new that's trendy here at the State Fair.
To go along with our patriotic theme, we'll have the
America's Birthday Cake iced tea, which is very interesting. I
will have a cupcake on tie on top of it
with an American flag. Well, the Star Spangled Cookie, Sunday
(03:19):
Barado Street Taco, pizza, honey or Hot Honey, Jalapinia, popper donuts.
All of our new foods are located in our website
with photos, so we encourage people to go and check
it out. But we've got a ton of new unique.
Something kind of unique to Tampa would be the deep
Fried Cuban Burrito, which is going to be a deep
(03:40):
fried Cuban sandwich, so something you definitely want to check
out while you're here on property.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Well, what else is going to be new at the
Fear this year? We talked about the America two fifty theme,
and we've talked about Cracker Country so far. What else
should people be looking for this year that's new and different?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
You know? We also a long to go with the
two fifty theme. We're going to be hosting the Freedom
Truck Mobile Museum put out by Celebration Freedom two fifty
that will kind of encapsule the American history here on site,
and we've also created a hologram in the I Hall
of Fame building that we'll also talk about Florida's contribution
(04:22):
to that history as well. We've got entertainments such as
American Man. We'll have a drone show, which will be
the first time we've had a drone show at the
State Fair on the last weekend, which will be Saturday,
Sunday and Monday, so we want folks to come check
that out. We'll have fireworks each weekend. We'll have a
tribute to American Daredevil, which will be a motorcycle show
(04:44):
that's going to basically honor the American Daredevil Evil Canieval,
which will be fun for fairgoers. We're also going to
have a Red, White, and Blue Water Spectacular show, something
that's rolling in attendance over the year, and people actually
come each year to see that. So we've got a
ton of entertainment. One thing for fairgrowers to be aware
(05:04):
of is when they come here, we definitely want them
to plan ahead. On our website you'll see our promotions,
so that way, we're offering more promotions than ever before
the first day, we're opening Heroes Day, So if you
come here and your first responder, law enforcement, retired military,
or medical professional or teacher, you get in for free
on the first day. In addition, if you don't fit
(05:27):
into that category but yet you buy a paid ticket
on that day, you will be able to come back
with a free admission ticket one other day. So we've
got just tons of promotion. We've got Freedom Friday on
Friday February six, five dollars missions and five dollars parking
after five pm. We've got Sunday on Bogo Bowl Sunday,
(05:48):
so you get buy one, get one armed man after
three pm also in a mission, so there's all types
of promotions for families to come in at a discounted price.
In addition, this year, on Sunday February eighth, we're doing
a donation to Feeding Tampa Bay, So a portion of
admission that we collect from the public will be given
(06:10):
back to our community in Feeding Tampa Bay efforts, so
that's also exciting. We always want to give back through
scholarships as well as giving back in our community, so
that is our effort this year is to give back
to Feeding Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Now you mentioned, of course the website Floridastatefair dot com
to get information headlines here, the highlights. What do people
need to know about pricing, parking and anything associated with that, yees.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
So if you go on our website you can find
our admission pricing. We give the public discounted pricing now
through February fourth, both at Walgreens and online. We encourage
people to buy online so that way when they arrive
on site, they do not have to wait in line.
If you have your tickets on your phone or on email,
all you have to do is just scan that ticket
(06:54):
and go to our fast lane, so that way you
don't have to stand in line. We encourage people to
plan ahead. There will be it could be warm weather,
so make sure you bring sunscreen and wear comfortable shoes.
We aar a large, large property. You can spend all
day here, but we certainly want to make sure that
our fairgoers are comfortable when they come on site because
(07:15):
most people stay all day when they ride. There's so
much to do here that you can literally be here
all day long.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And why would be remiss if we didn't touch a
little bit on agriculture here, because all state fairs are
built around agriculture.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
They are, and you know that's one of our primary
missions here at the Florida State Fair is to promote
Florida agriculture. We invest in thousands of youth to ensure
that those kids know where their food comes from. Sometimes
we take for granted where our food comes from, and
it's our job here at the Florida State Fair to
promote Florida agriculture. So down there in the ag complex,
(07:50):
you'll see the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame. We will
have an exhibit this year with a hologram that's focused
around Florida agriculture pioneers within our industry. And you'll also
find a whole building where there's hands on activities for
the kids to do to kind of learn about where
their food comes from. So we hope you'll come and
check it out. And then we have livestock shows going
(08:11):
on where kids from across the state come to the
Florida State Fair. They work on their projects for months
at a time. They work to make sure that the
projects are show ready and they come here and they
show them to the public and they're very proud of
their projects. So we invite the public to come out
and support these kids because that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Cheryl Flood, Executive director of the Florida State Fair. It
opens February sixth. Cheryl Flood, Executive director of the Florida
State Fair. It opens February sixth, then runs through February
sixteenth at the Florida State Fair Grounds in Tampa. Cheryl flood.
Thank you very much for joining us on beyond the news.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Thank you so much
Gordon Bird with Beyond the News. As has been the
case for more than a century, February is Florida State
Fair time. The fair gets underway at the State Fairgrounds
on US three oh one, a I four in Tampa
coming up, and Cheryl Flood, the executive director of the
State Fair, is here to join us to talk about it.
(00:20):
Cheryl Flood, welcome to Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Thank you for having me on all right now.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Of course, the first thing a lot of people zero
in on when they hear about the State Fair is
all of the fair foods and all of the new
fair foods that come online every year, and it seems
like we have a whole new lineup of them coming
out every year. And before we get into that, one
of the reasons that we see so many rolled out,
I suspect has a lot to do with the fact
(00:48):
that the Florida State Fair is historically the first state
fair in the nation.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It is we are the first state fair in the nation.
The one thing really unique about this year is our
countries celebrate America two fifty, so we will be celebrating
America two fifty with our nation, and we are the
America's Sunday celebration this year, So we'll be hosting a
ton of events around the history of America, red white,
and Blue, and have a lot of entertainment and food
(01:17):
and all types of activities for the public to do
centered around that theme.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
And of course the date is February fifth through sixteenth,
which means it always ends on Residence Day and which
is certainly a relevant holiday when you talk about the
history of the nation, and you've always incorporated a big
part of Florida's history into the fair with Cracker Country.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
We do. So you'll see Cracker Country all decked out
this year in period time around that history of America.
So it'll be a beautiful setting with a lot of
bluegrass and demonstrations under the oaks. It'll be beautiful weather,
so we invite people to come out and enjoy relaxing time.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
There, hoping for a lot of red, white and blue
bunting that's so traditionally America. It's like an opening day
of baseball season and things like that.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
It is you know what's exciting is we will be
debuting the America two point fifty Wheel this year, which
is one of the largest traveling observation wheel in the world.
It'll sit two hundred and thirty feet tall and have
over forty five gondolas, and each gondola will represent a
US president, which will be really exciting for it to
(02:24):
be debuting right here at the State Fair.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
That's going to be quite a sight to see, even
if you just drive by on the road.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I'm sure it is. It's about double the size of
the big wheel that we had here previously.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now you've got the list of new Fair foods out
this year, and you know that they explain themselves. So
if you want to zero in on a couple of
them and just tell us, tell us what new culinary
concoctions have been conceived of in the minds of the
geniuses who put together those foods.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You know what. Every year it's so exciting, you know,
people travel across the country to kind of see what
we have new that's trendy here at the State Fair.
To go along with our patriotic theme, we'll have the
America's Birthday Cake iced tea, which is very interesting. I
will have a cupcake on tie on top of it
with an American flag. Well, the Star Spangled Cookie, Sunday
(03:19):
Barado Street Taco, pizza, honey or Hot Honey, Jalapinia, popper donuts.
All of our new foods are located in our website
with photos, so we encourage people to go and check
it out. But we've got a ton of new unique.
Something kind of unique to Tampa would be the deep
Fried Cuban Burrito, which is going to be a deep
(03:40):
fried Cuban sandwich, so something you definitely want to check
out while you're here on property.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Well, what else is going to be new at the
Fear this year? We talked about the America two fifty theme,
and we've talked about Cracker Country so far. What else
should people be looking for this year that's new and different?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
You know? We also a long to go with the
two fifty theme. We're going to be hosting the Freedom
Truck Mobile Museum put out by Celebration Freedom two fifty
that will kind of encapsule the American history here on site,
and we've also created a hologram in the I Hall
of Fame building that we'll also talk about Florida's contribution
(04:22):
to that history as well. We've got entertainments such as
American Man. We'll have a drone show, which will be
the first time we've had a drone show at the
State Fair on the last weekend, which will be Saturday,
Sunday and Monday, so we want folks to come check
that out. We'll have fireworks each weekend. We'll have a
tribute to American Daredevil, which will be a motorcycle show
(04:44):
that's going to basically honor the American Daredevil Evil Canieval,
which will be fun for fairgoers. We're also going to
have a Red, White, and Blue Water Spectacular show, something
that's rolling in attendance over the year, and people actually
come each year to see that. So we've got a
ton of entertainment. One thing for fairgrowers to be aware
(05:04):
of is when they come here, we definitely want them
to plan ahead. On our website you'll see our promotions,
so that way, we're offering more promotions than ever before
the first day, we're opening Heroes Day, So if you
come here and your first responder, law enforcement, retired military,
or medical professional or teacher, you get in for free
on the first day. In addition, if you don't fit
(05:27):
into that category but yet you buy a paid ticket
on that day, you will be able to come back
with a free admission ticket one other day. So we've
got just tons of promotion. We've got Freedom Friday on
Friday February six, five dollars missions and five dollars parking
after five pm. We've got Sunday on Bogo Bowl Sunday,
(05:48):
so you get buy one, get one armed man after
three pm also in a mission, so there's all types
of promotions for families to come in at a discounted price.
In addition, this year, on Sunday February eighth, we're doing
a donation to Feeding Tampa Bay, So a portion of
admission that we collect from the public will be given
(06:10):
back to our community in Feeding Tampa Bay efforts, so
that's also exciting. We always want to give back through
scholarships as well as giving back in our community, so
that is our effort this year is to give back
to Feeding Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Now you mentioned, of course the website Floridastatefair dot com
to get information headlines here, the highlights. What do people
need to know about pricing, parking and anything associated with that, yees.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
So if you go on our website you can find
our admission pricing. We give the public discounted pricing now
through February fourth, both at Walgreens and online. We encourage
people to buy online so that way when they arrive
on site, they do not have to wait in line.
If you have your tickets on your phone or on email,
all you have to do is just scan that ticket
(06:54):
and go to our fast lane, so that way you
don't have to stand in line. We encourage people to
plan ahead. There will be it could be warm weather,
so make sure you bring sunscreen and wear comfortable shoes.
We aar a large, large property. You can spend all
day here, but we certainly want to make sure that
our fairgoers are comfortable when they come on site because
(07:15):
most people stay all day when they ride. There's so
much to do here that you can literally be here
all day long.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And why would be remiss if we didn't touch a
little bit on agriculture here, because all state fairs are
built around agriculture.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
They are, and you know that's one of our primary
missions here at the Florida State Fair is to promote
Florida agriculture. We invest in thousands of youth to ensure
that those kids know where their food comes from. Sometimes
we take for granted where our food comes from, and
it's our job here at the Florida State Fair to
promote Florida agriculture. So down there in the ag complex,
(07:50):
you'll see the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame. We will
have an exhibit this year with a hologram that's focused
around Florida agriculture pioneers within our industry. And you'll also
find a whole building where there's hands on activities for
the kids to do to kind of learn about where
their food comes from. So we hope you'll come and
check it out. And then we have livestock shows going
(08:11):
on where kids from across the state come to the
Florida State Fair. They work on their projects for months
at a time. They work to make sure that the
projects are show ready and they come here and they
show them to the public and they're very proud of
their projects. So we invite the public to come out
and support these kids because that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Cheryl Flood, Executive director of the Florida State Fair. It
opens February sixth. Cheryl Flood, Executive director of the Florida
State Fair. It opens February sixth, then runs through February
sixteenth at the Florida State Fair Grounds in Tampa. Cheryl flood.
Thank you very much for joining us on beyond the news.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Thank you so much
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