Each year, we celebrate the South Dakota State Fair in the days leading up to Labor Day. Things kick off Wednesday and wrap up Monday. I love the State Fair for so many reasons. I always head for the pork sandwiches and ice cream. The bull riding and concerts are excellent, and we have plenty of celebrations!

What I love in particular is the wide variety of those celebrations. I spent a day at the Fair this year, and these are just a few of the things that we celebrated:

• Family farms and ranches that have been in the same family for 100 years, 125 years, or 150 years – (isn’t that incredible?);
• Our annual Salute to Veterans program, which thanks all of our veterans from each American conflict and those who didn’t make it home;
• The Daughters of the American Revolution and the work that they do to educate our kids on America’s history and founding principles;
• The work that our various agriculture advocacy groups do to promote our state’s most important industry;
• The groundbreaking of the next revolutionary facility at the State Fairgrounds: the SHED; and
• The Bull Bash, a terrific competition that also included another program to honor our veterans.

And that was just Thursday at the State Fair!

Even with all of South Dakota’s amazing growth, we are still a state that runs on small town values. And we see that in full effect at the State Fair. People are happy and friendly. They have a smile on their face and say “hello” when you walk by. They run into old friends and make plenty of new ones.

I wish that every South Dakotan took the opportunity to see everything that our State Fair has to offer. It’s a tremendous educational opportunity for our kids, and there’s lots of fun to be had, as well! And the concerts offer something for folks of all different musical tastes.

Next year’s State Fair will take place between Wednesday, August 27, and Monday, September 1, 2025. We hope to see you there!