We Started a Coalition to Help Animals at Fairs

Late summer into fall is state and county fair season in the United States. If you didn’t grow up in a rural area, you may not know what important cultural and commercial events these fairs are for communities. They are huge annual affairs. Some fairs have over a million attendees a year and run for 10 or more days; whereas some are small and only open for a weekend.

Agriculture fairs have been common in the United States since the early 19th Century and the first state fair was the New York State Fair, held in Syracuse in 1841. While their primary purpose was commerce and the showing, selling, and promotion of agricultural products including farmed animals, there have always been other exhibitions to entertain fair attendees—in modern times, that’s commonly rides, food, and entertainment like music or other shows.  

Agricultural Implement Section at State Fair Grounds Syracuse,NY (Pre 1914).

If you did grow up going to these fairs, you likely have a lot of nostalgia around them, which is understandable because most of them have so many carnival components. However, the backbone of these fairs is agricultural commerce and the majority of that is sadly the exploitation, showing, and selling of animals who are farmed for profit. Common means of exploitation include 4H shows and auctions, pig races, shows and contests based on species and breed, and petting zoos. There are even live birth exhibits where mother cows or pigs are induced to give birth in front of spectators (sign our petition to stop this at the NY State Fair here!).  

We have clear objections to the use of animals at these fairs: there is the direct experience of the animals being put on display, transported, and sometimes sold at the fair which can be harmful and painful and is always scary and not for their wellbeing; there is also the sanitized propaganda of the messaging and public displays that are intended to convince the public that farming animals is good for the animals and that they are well cared for and loved. This is just propaganda.  

So what are we doing? Well, we started a coalition! Currently it is 24 member sanctuaries and organizations from across the US, all bringing expertise in animal care and advocacy. The coalition educational messaging has already reached over a million people!  

Over the last year, we’ve attended multiple fairs to document the exploitation and experience of the animals on display. That documentation is being shared with journalists and legislators and we are pushing for change for some of the most egregious forms of exploitation at these fairs as well as encouraging everyone to boycott any fair that uses animals as commerce or entertainment. You can check out our Executive Director and Shelter Director on the podcast Our Hen House talking about the reasons for the campaign here!

How can you help?

Check out this fair page and follow and support our coalition members in any local efforts and engage with and share all of our fair education messaging! If you have a state or county fair in your community, we can give you suggestions to reach out to local sponsors and ask them to stop supporting animal exploitation. And we are trying to get the “Birthing Center” at the NY State Fair shut down – please sign our petition here for that and stay tuned for more action steps.

Fairs aren’t fair. Let’s get the animals out of them!