TEXAS — There are only a few days left until Big Tex waves goodbye. This is the last week to get your delicious, deep-fried dishes on tap.

And if you’ve already been to the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, you may have noticed some changes this year. 

No. 1, the cost of the fair experience was taken into consideration this year after feedback from fairgoers and not just for the fried treats.

“We have 78 rides on the Midway. We have a little bit of something for everybody,” said Rusty Fitzgerald, senior vice president of Midway Operations for the State Fair of Texas. “And I’ve talked to other operators when they came out before they came out, and we talked about pricing and talked about our goals. And, we lowered our prices an average of about 17, a little over 17%, actually. And they all agreed that we could do it.”

The price of food and fun is not the only change, but the cost of actually getting into the fair has been lowered as well.

“So we made thoughtful adjustments to our operations in order to bring our parking pricing and admission pricing down this year, and introducing an all new kids or $10 every single day, no matter what time of day you come to the State Fair of Texas,” said Karissa Condoianis, senior vice president of public relations for the State Fair of Texas.

Speaking of kids, there’s a new addition for families with little ones. It’s called Little Lone Stars. It’s catered to children 8 years and under, and the rides are even lower in price.

The fair crew said people are noticing the change.

“We’re seeing and we’re receiving a lot of positive feedback from our fairgoers, who are coming out and enjoying the State Fair,” said Condoianis. “And what we’re also trying to help get across to our fairgoers is understanding that your fair day helps Texans every day when you come out and you have fun at the State Fair of Texas, as a nonprofit organization, you are helping us pour millions of dollars back into Texas communities year-round.”

Last year and the year before, more than 2 million people came to the fair, but there was a decrease in attendance from 2024 to last year. That was a decrease of over 365,000 people from 2024 to 2025. 

There are four days left until the fair wraps up. That’s when we’ll get exact figures to compare whether those changes had an impact.