PHOENIX — Dates for the 2022 Arizona State Fair have been confirmed and for now, the fair will be held at its usual home — the Arizona State Fairgrounds — in Phoenix.
Jenn Yee, a spokesperson for the fairgrounds, said the 2022 Arizona State Fair would be held during its typical fall time frame, Oct. 1-30, 2022, at the fairgrounds near 19th Avenue and McDowell Road.
More than 1.5 million people attended the 2021 fair, which beat the previous record of 1.26 million people set in 2019. It also comes a year after the 2020 fair was canceled because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Much of the fair was the same — there were rides, deep-fried treats, and entertainment shows and acts. The biggest change was no large concerts at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum due to apparent budget shortfalls from not hosting the fair the year before.
Where the fair would ultimately be held was unexpectedly up for discussion last year after the state fair board initially voted to relocate the fair to Wild Horse Pass, part of the Gila River's entertainment district near Interstate 10 and Wild Horse Pass Blvd.
Those plans were later scrapped because there were issues securing the infrastructure needed to put on the fair at Wild Horse Pass, and it was ultimately held at the fairgrounds.
However, in a statement in August, the fair's board chairman Jonathan Lines said he was "committed to working with the Gila River Indian Community to see if we can move the Fair to the Gila River Indian Reservation in 2022 in a manner that is mutually beneficial to both sides."
