Updated: July 22, 2026
When you grow up in Ohio, it’s hard not to fall in love with one particular aspect of the Ohio State Fair.
The food at the fair has taken on an iconic personality of its own over the years. America’s love affair with fair food really took off at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.
The World’s Fair was an exciting experience, offering fair-goers the chance to explore the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes of the world beyond their own backyards. Foods like tamales and Vienna beef hot dogs took the country by storm, and they are still foods found at fairs around the U.S. every year.
Of course, all of the credit can’t be given to the world’s flashiest fair. In the early 19th century, county fairs were established around the country as a way to promote farming in rural communities. Just like today, there were activities like livestock judging, art showcases, technology demonstrations, and of course, food vendors.
The very first Ohio State Fair was held back in 1850, and one constant ever since has been tasty treats to snack on while you wander the fairgrounds. This year the fair runs July 29 through August 9.
The fair always cooks up some gloriously weird stuff, and half the fun is hunting down the strangest thing you can eat off a stick. There’s a free Ohio State Fair app with a searchable food map, so you can track down a favorite (or that deep-fried thing you saw on someone’s Instagram). And save room for $3 Thursday: on July 30 and August 6, vendors across the fair sell a smaller version of one of their items for just $3. It’s the cheapest way to graze your way down the midway.
| 2026 Ohio State Fair Food at a Glance | |
| Dates | July 29 – August 9, 2026 |
| Where | Ohio Expo Center, Columbus |
| New this year | The 55,000 sq ft Ohio Showcase food hall, plus 25+ new foods |
| Cheapest way to graze | $3 Thursday (July 30 & August 6) |
| Don’t miss | Schmidt’s root beer cream puff |
Now let’s dig into some of the wildest, weirdest, and best things you’ll find at the fair.
New for 2026: The Ohio Showcase Building Food Hall
The biggest food news this year is air-conditioned. The fair is debuting the Ohio Showcase Building, a 55,000-square-foot space near the center of the fairgrounds with an indoor food hall stocked with six Ohio favorites: Schmidt’s Sausage Haus, The Cheesecake Girl, Marlow’s Cheesesteaks, Daisy’s Fish Shack, Glass City Pizzeria, and Sweet Carrot. It’s open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and a cool place to sit down in late July might be worth the walk on its own. You can read more on the new food hall here.
The Wildest New Eats
Catfish on a Stick
Where: Daisy’s Fish Shack
What: Skewered, fried catfish out of the new air-conditioned food hall, served with southern sides and a loud-colored Kool-Aid in red, purple, or blue. Catfish you can eat while walking is peak fair engineering.
Pork Belly in a Cone
Where: Mr. Pork Belly
What: Fried pork belly loaded into a cone with your pick of four sauces. It is as gloriously unnecessary as it sounds, and that is exactly the point.
Churro Korean Corn Dog
Where: Miller & Company Concessions
What: A mozzarella-stuffed Korean corn dog rolled in cinnamon sugar so it eats like a churro. Sweet, crunchy, and a proper cheese pull, all on a stick.
Caribbean Jerk Cheesesteak
Where: Marlow’s Cheesesteaks
What: Marlow’s, one of the six food-hall tenants, tosses jerk-seasoned chicken with melted cheese, onions, and hot peppers on an Amoroso roll. A cheesesteak with real heat.
Deep Fried Birria Taco
Where: Jim’s Deep Fried Tacos
What: Birria beef and Mexican cheese sealed in a tortilla, beer-battered, fried, and served with a cup of consommé for dipping. Messy in the best way. Bring napkins.
Spam Musubi
Where: Kama’aina Grill
What: Glazed grilled Spam pressed onto seasoned rice and wrapped in nori. A Hawaiian gas-station classic that has no business being this good at an Ohio fair.
Pick Me Hot Chicken Pizza
Where: GH Concessions
What: Hand-tossed pizza with mozzarella, chicken, pickles, and sriracha, finished with a honey drizzle. Pickles on pizza sounds wrong right up until the honey shows up.
Hot Blue Taki Fries
Where: Prowant Specialty
What: Fresh-cut fries under cheddar sauce and a heavy dusting of Blue Heat Takis. Snack-aisle chaos, fair-sized.
Freedom Fries
Where: Fork’et Me Not
What: A loaded-fries tribute to America’s 250th: house cheese sauce, your choice of fried chicken or shrimp, barbecue ranch, bacon, and crispy onions. Order it for the table.
Dill Pickle Cashews and Pistachios
Where: The Nut Shack
What: Roasted nuts tossed in a tangy dill-pickle seasoning. The rare fair snack you can eat a whole bag of without feeling wrecked. Good for the drive home.
Deviled Eggs (America 250 Flight)
Where: Deviled Egg HQ, next to the new Ohio Agriculture Center
What: The wraps came off on July 22, and the Ohio Poultry Association went straight at America’s 250th birthday. Birthday Cake is the featured flavor, a sweet vanilla egg with an icing drizzle and red, white and blue sprinkles. It anchors a six-egg America 250 flight alongside brisket, apple pie, hot dog, mac and cheese, and ranch. The Columbus Pizza and Cincinnati Chili eggs are still on the menu, and they still sell plain ones. Here’s every deviled egg flavor at the Ohio State Fair and where to find the booth.
Sweet Stuff and Deep-Fried Everything
Root Beer Cream Puff
Where: Schmidt’s Sausage Haus
What: Schmidt’s is the fair’s longest-running food vendor, and its cream puffs are the one thing regulars will tell you not to skip. Each year they pick a single exclusive flavor. For 2026 it’s root beer, built to taste like a root beer float in cream-puff form. If you eat one fair food all week, make it this.
Inside Out Buckeye
Where: The Cookie Jar
What: A chocolate-cream Oreo wrapped in peanut butter batter, fried, then finished with chocolate icing and peanut butter frosting. A buckeye turned inside out, which is very on-brand for this state.
Fluffer Nutter Funnel Cake
Where: Prowant Specialty
What: A warm funnel cake buried under marshmallow topping and Reese’s peanut butter sauce. The fair’s funnel-cake arms race continues, and everyone wins.
Star-Berry Cobbler Funnel Cake
Where: GH Concessions
What: A scratch-made funnel cake under strawberries, blueberries, cream cheese icing, and honey granola. The rare funnel cake with actual fruit on it, if that helps you justify a second one.
Nutella Pocket
Where: Lads Management
What: A crustless pocket deep-fried and loaded with warm Nutella, peanut butter, and chocolate sauce. A fried Nutella sandwich with the boring parts removed.
Dubai Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Where: Lordy’s Elephant Ears
What: The viral Dubai-chocolate treatment (pistachio cream, Belgian chocolate, crunchy kataifi) poured over strawberries in a cup. Instagram bait that actually tastes like something.
Tanghulu
Where: Fresh Fruit Candy
What: Fresh fruit skewered and dipped in a hard, glassy sugar shell that cracks when you bite it. The loud crunch is half the fun.
Biscoff Cookie Butter Frozen Cheesecake
Where: Polar Bear Concessions
What: New York cheesecake on a stick, dunked in a cookie-butter shell and rolled in crushed Biscoff. A cold, frozen option for a hot late-July afternoon.
Blueberry Pie Bingsu
Where: Backdraft Brews & Bites
What: Korean-style shaved ice layered with blueberry pie filling, graham crumbs, and sweet condensed coconut milk. Shaved ice that thinks it’s a pie.
Cracker Jack Sundae
Where: North American Food Service
What: Vanilla ice cream piled with caramel, peanuts, popcorn, and M&M’s. It tastes like the bottom of a Cracker Jack box, in the best way, and it holds up better than a box would while you walk.
Fresh Dipped Ice Cream Bar
Where: Maggie’s Concessions
What: A build-your-own Velvet Ice Cream bar. Pick a dip (chocolate, peanut butter, cherry, caramel, or white chocolate), then roll it in the topping of your choice. Ohio dairy, dressed up.
Velvet Ice Cream: Star Spangled Swirl
Where: Dairy Building and the Taste of Ohio Cafe
What: A fair-exclusive Velvet Ice Cream flavor built to taste like a rocket pop: tart cherry, lime, and blue raspberry. A fitting scoop for the country’s 250th, and it lives in the air-conditioned Dairy Building, which never hurts.
New Drinks Worth a Detour
Tex-Mex Float
Where: Ohio Dots
What: Dr Pepper-flavored Dippin’ Dots floated in horchata. Odd on paper, refreshing in a cup, and the kind of thing you only try because the fair is the one place selling it.
New Ways to Wash It All Down
Where: Stands across the grounds
What: The drink carts went as hard as the food this year. Prowant’s Dirty Lemonade swirls fresh-squeezed lemonade with vanilla sweet cream (peach, strawberry, or blue raspberry). The Thirsty Soda builds custom Dirty Sodas and Dirty Alanis drinks from a soda or Alani base with flavored syrups and a creamy topper. Rutana floats a scoop of vanilla ice cream in cold lemonade. GH Concessions pairs lemonade with matcha and sweet cream. And Miller & Company’s Nitro Frozen Lemonade pours out foamy and velvety, like citrus off a draft line.
That covers the 2026 debut list. For the fair’s own full rundown, and any items added after this went up, check the official Ohio State Fair food page.
Ohio State Fair Food FAQ
When is the 2026 Ohio State Fair?
The 2026 Ohio State Fair runs July 29 through August 9 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.
What’s new at the fair for 2026?
The big addition is the Ohio Showcase Building, a 55,000-square-foot space with an air-conditioned food hall featuring six Ohio restaurants: Schmidt’s Sausage Haus, The Cheesecake Girl, Marlow’s Cheesesteaks, Daisy’s Fish Shack, Glass City Pizzeria, and Sweet Carrot.
What is $3 Thursday at the Ohio State Fair?
On both Thursdays of the fair, July 30 and August 6, vendors across the fairgrounds sell a smaller version of one of their items for just $3. It’s the cheapest way to sample a lot of fair food in one day.
Is there vegetarian or gluten-free food at the fair?
Yes. The fair lists dairy-free, vegetarian, and other dietary-friendly options from vendors across the grounds, and the free Ohio State Fair app maps out where to find them.
