Butter, baseball and a brand-new train: Indiana State Fair returns Friday

If there was any question whether Hoosier cuisine could find new uses for butter, deep fryers and over-the-top fixings, this year’s Indiana State Fair sets the record straight.

Consider the butter-dipped ice cream: vanilla soft serve coated in melted butter, which hardens into a golden shell finished with flaky sea salt.

Or the deep-fried Lindor Dubai chocolate truffles, skewered three at a time, dunked in funnel cake batter and fried until golden.

For fairgoers who consider a plain fried Oreo merely a starting point, there’s also a Hot Cheeto fried Oreo rolled in spicy red dust, drizzled with nacho cheese and crowned with more Cheeto crumbles.

They’re just a few of the nearly 50 new foods awaiting visitors when the 169th Indiana State Fair opens Friday at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis.

The fair runs through Aug. 23 and will be closed on Mondays. Organizers expect more than 850,000 guests over its 15-day run.

This year’s “Always a Hit” theme, presented in partnership with the Indianapolis Indians, carries baseball into attractions, food and entertainment across the fairgrounds. It also dovetails with celebrations of the nation’s 250th anniversary by pairing two long-standing American summer traditions — baseball and fairs.

Visitors can play Wiffle Ball at a miniature stadium, watch baseball movies in a throwback video store, attend concerts at a newly expanded free stage and ride a new train around the north side of the fairgrounds.

And because no fair theme is complete until it reaches the concession stand, the 2026 menu is loaded with dishes swinging for the fences.

Butter, batter and ballpark bites

The Taste of the Fair competition includes 48 new creations from vendors across the fairgrounds.

Among them is the Grand Slam Mary, a Bloody Mary garnished with a burger slider, hot dog slider, waffle fries, soft pretzel stick, Cracker Jacks, celery and lemon.

The Junkyard Spam Dog piles macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, potato chips, barbecue sauce and sliced jalapeños onto a Spam-brand hot dog. The “S’Mork” combines slow-smoked pulled pork and the flavors of a s’more on a fried sugar biscuit.

Other new dishes include a bacon-jalapeño HoneyBun burger; buffalo chicken dip pizza; pork rind nachos; Nashville hot fried pickles; a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with Havarti, cheddar and dill pickles; and General Tso fries topped with ground bison.

The sweet side of the lineup includes a cookie butter Biscoff funnel cake, a blue raspberry milkshake, a lemon shake-up float and a fresh brownie topped with high-butterfat ice cream, homemade whipped cream and hot fudge.

Even the drinks carry the theme. 

Sun King Brewery created a beer brewed with corn and smoked malt to evoke the flavor of a State Fair corn dog. The Great American Shake layers vanilla ice cream with red and blue syrup, whipped cream, patriotic sprinkles and a cherry.

Fairgoers can vote for their favorite new dish by scanning QR codes posted at participating concession stands. The top three will be announced during the fair’s final week.

For visitors pacing their spending along with their appetites, the fair is again offering a $5 value menu with affordable options available at concession stands throughout the fairgrounds.

Baseball takes the field

The Indianapolis Indians partnership gets a home field of its own at Schumacher Stadium, a Wiffle Ball diamond in the Meijer Family Fun Park named for longtime Indians executive Max Schumacher.

The field will host free play, community games, tournaments and appearances throughout the fair, too.

A second-weekend “Hot Diggity Dog Games” celebration will extend the ballpark theme beyond the diamond. The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is scheduled to visit Aug. 15 and 16, when fairgoers can expect hot dog-themed games and activities.

“What’s baseball without hot dogs,” LeRoy Lewis III, the fair’s director of community and media engagement, said during a Thursday media preview.

Events are expected to include a hot dog toss, a corn dog eating contest, a hot dog assembly relay and what Lewis called the “inflatable Glizzy 500,” in which competitors dress as hot dogs and race.

The baseball theme also figures prominently in “REWIND: A VHS Revival,” a new immersive exhibit built around the video-store era of the 1980s through the early 2000s.

The exhibit features vintage movie-poster art, a baseball movie theater, an Indianapolis Indians gift shop, a “Moulin Rouge” speakeasy and the return of the Indy CD & Vinyl pop-up store. It is open daily and included with fair admission.

Lewis said movies shown throughout the fair will include baseball favorites from past decades.

All aboard

One of the fair’s largest physical additions is the Indiana State Fair Train, a new family ride that will carry passengers on a one-mile loop around the north side of the grounds.

Two trains, each capable of holding about 90 passengers, will depart from a newly constructed depot. Each narrated round trip will last approximately 15 minutes.

The ride costs $5, and visitors can also pay with midway tickets.

“You will not find another state fair that has an amazing train like this,” Lewis said.

Fair officials said the ride is a nod to the trains that historically carried generations of guests to the fairgrounds.

The new attraction is one of several upgrades intended to handle the large crowds expected this year. A redesigned Gate 6 is intended to improve traffic flow into infield parking, Lewis said, following similar work at Gate 5 last year.

The fair has also expanded and renovated the Hoosier Lottery Free Stage. The venue now has a 60-by-40-foot main stage, two wings, a taller roof, dual LED video walls and flexible configurations capable of holding between 5,000 and 7,500 people.

All concerts are included with paid admission, although premium reserved areas are available for some performances.

The lineup includes the Beach Boys on opening day, TUSK on Saturday, Josiah Queen on Sunday, Bret Michaels on Aug. 12, Busta Rhymes on Aug. 13, Grand Funk Railroad on Aug. 14 and Trace Adkins on Aug. 16.

Later performers include Gene Simmons, Sammy Kershaw and Craig Morgan, Don McLean and gospel singer Tasha Cobbs Leonard.

Animals, acrobats and agriculture

The fair’s Big Top Circus also returns with eight new acts inside an air-conditioned tent. Free, 45-minute performances are scheduled three times daily, with optional premium seating upgrades.

Other additions include daily calf cuddling in the Meijer Family Fun Park and tortoise feeding near Goat Mountain. A youth division is also being added to the fair’s mullet competition.

Still, organizers emphasize that agriculture and 4-H remain at the center of the event.

Nearly 10,000 people participated in fair competitions last year, submitting more than 50,000 entries. This year, 4-H projects will be displayed at expanded locations around the grounds.

The Featured Farmers program will recognize 15 Indiana farm families, one for each day of the fair. Visitors can meet the featured family and learn about its operation during daily conversations in the Glass Barn.

The farms represent products ranging from corn, soybeans, pork and dairy to maple syrup, flowers, leafy greens and lavender.

Last year’s fair attracted 854,977 visitors, slightly more than the 854,236 who attended in 2024, despite six days when temperatures topped 90 degrees.

Its other numbers were similarly outsized: the winning giant pumpkin weighed 1,323 pounds, an artist carved 1,600 pounds of Indiana cheese and more than 32,000 cans were used to construct sculptures that were later donated to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.

Plan before heading out

The fairgrounds are located at 1202 E. 38th St. in Indianapolis. Gates open daily at 8 a.m.

On-site parking costs $10 per vehicle. IndyGo Routes 4 and 39 and the Purple Line stop near the fairgrounds. The designated rideshare pickup and drop-off area is at 3773 Woodland Ave., accessible through Gate 7.

Free bicycle parking is available near the Monon Trail north of 38th Street, and cyclists receive $1 off admission. Children age 5 and younger are admitted free.

Advance discounts on admission, parking, family packages and ride wristbands remain available at IndianaStateFair.com through 11:59 p.m. Thursday.

The fair’s $2 Tuesdays return Aug. 11 and 18, with $2 admission, $2 midway rides and $2 food specials at every concession stand.

Military members, veterans, first responders and their immediate families receive free admission with valid identification Aug. 12. Other promotions include Indianapolis Indians Family Day on Aug. 13, IndyStar Free Ticket Day on Aug. 19 and free admission for AAA members on Aug. 20.

Lewis said security remains a top priority, pointing to metal detectors at every entrance and coordination with law enforcement, medical personnel and weather-monitoring teams.

After 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and after 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, visitors younger than 18 must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or chaperone age 25 or older.

Full schedules, maps, ticket information and policies are available at IndianaStateFair.com.