DALLAS, Texas (KXII) – When you think of the State Fair of Texas, you probably think of fried food, games on the Midway and the big Ferris wheel, the Texas Star, but there\u2019s plenty new at the fair this year.<\/p>\n
Familiar favorites keep families, couples and kiddos coming back, but what\u2019s new at the State Fair of Texas in 2026? There\u2019s 78 rides on the Midway, with two new thrills.<\/p>\n
There is the \u2018Thor.\u2019 \u201cIt\u2019s the only ride of its kind in the U.S., and it will turn you upside down multiple times,\u201d said Senior VP of Midway Operations Rusty Fitzgerald. <\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the $1.8 million \u2018Impact.\u2019 \u201cI call it a family ride because you don\u2019t go upside down, but you\u2019ll bounce up and down, and turn side to side,\u201d Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n
Rides aren\u2019t the only new things at the fair this year. There\u2019s also plenty of new foods including the \u2018Twinkle Twinkle Brisket Star\u2019 from the 48-year fair vendor Smokey John\u2019s. It\u2019s a hollowed-out Twinkie filled with slow smoked brisket, cream cheese and sauteed jalapenos.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we batter it, roll it in panko, fry it, drizzle some raspberry chipotle sauce to give it a little heat, and we top it off with a little bacon and garnish it with jalapenos,\u201d said Smokey John\u2019s Co=owner Juan Reaves. <\/p>\n
And to get the kiddos to eat veggies, new vendor DJ Gay with \u2018Thee Kitchen Beast\u2019 says to try frying them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis little boy, he was turning 10, and he had told his parents \u2018I want to go to the fair and eat the broccoli,\u2019 very surprising,\u201d Gay said.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Texas in the Saddle\u2019 show is yet another new addition to the 2026 fair season. It\u2019s a free equestrian attraction for those looking to take a step in the shade inside Pan Am Arena.<\/p>\n
The show explores the beauty of the horse, wows with tricks and honors the armed forces. Fifth-generation horseman Nicholas Diaz rides Falcor, a first-time performer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica\u2019s celebrating its 250th anniversary,\u201d Diaz stated. \u201cThe national anthem is always something that just chokes me up because it symbolizes so much of what people have sacrificed for.\u201d <\/p>\n
You can see the herd up close at the \u2018Beyond the Saddle\u2019 exhibit.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KXII. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS, Texas (KXII) – When you think of the State Fair of Texas, you probably think of fried…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[129818,158491,368,424,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-465414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-kxii","tag-olivia-thompson","tag-state-fair-of-texas","tag-state-fair","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}