The 140th State Fair of Texas runs September 25 through October 18 — and after a rough 2025, almost everything costs less this year.
Twenty-four days at Fair Park, a mile and a half from downtown and directly on the DART Green Line. Here is what is confirmed for 2026, what changed, and how to get there without paying to park.
Dates and Hours
The fair opens Friday, September 25 and closes Sunday, October 18. Gates are open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Last entry is 9 p.m. every day.
This year’s theme is “Stars, Stripes, and Howdies,” marking the fair’s 140th run alongside the United States’ 250th anniversary.
Prices Came Down, and Here Is Why
Roughly two million people attended in 2025 — somewhere between 385,000 and 400,000 fewer than the year before, against a typical range of two to two and a half million. The fair spent the year responding to what it called guest feedback about the overall cost of attending. Karissa Condoianis, the fair’s senior vice president of public relations, put it plainly: “We take that feedback seriously.”
What that produced for 2026:
Admission. Monday through Thursday, adults are $15, seniors 60 and over $13, and children 3 to 12 are $10. After 5 p.m. on those days, everyone pays $10. Friday through Sunday, adults are $25, seniors $20, children $10; after 5 p.m. it is $20 for adults and $10 for children. Under 2 is free. Online orders carry a $2 fee.
Children are $10 every single day of the fair — the headline change this year.
Parking is $25 in official fair lots, down $5 from 2025. Worth noting: the fair’s own Plan Your Visit page still shows last year’s $30 figure, and at least one news outlet reported the drop incorrectly. The $25 comes from the fair’s own pricing announcement.
Midway prices are down an average of 17 percent across most rides and games.
The Discount Days Are Worth Planning Around
Several of these cut the price by more than half:
Opening Day, Friday September 25 — $10 admission with two jars of peanut butter donated to the North Texas Food Bank.
Feed the Need Wednesdays — $7 admission with five canned food items.
Dr Pepper Value Days, Tuesdays and Thursdays — $12 online for Big Tex Insiders with a promo code.
Senior Day, Thursdays — $7 at the gate for anyone 60 and over.
Thrilling Tuesdays — most midway rides drop to four coupons, select kiddie rides to three.
Military and first responders — $5 off admission any day with valid ID.
Season passes are $52 digital, or $60 at the gate for the commemorative hard card, good for one visit a day across all 24 days.
Take the Train
Fair Park has its own DART Green Line station on Parry Avenue, right at the entrance, plus MLK Jr. Station just south, which is the closer stop for Gate 6 and the Cotton Bowl. If you live anywhere along the Green Line — Deep Ellum, Baylor, Downtown, Victory Park — you can skip the $25 parking entirely.
DART is also running a promotion: $5 off a 1-Day FLEX Ticket with a promo code from the Events tab of the GoPass app, valid September 1 through October 18 for online purchases at bigtex.com only, limit four tickets per order. Buy your rail fare in the GoPass app before you go rather than queueing at a machine.
The Trinity Railway Express connects ten Tarrant and Dallas county stations to the Green Line, and the Denton County A-Train connects five more with a transfer at Trinity Mills — but the A-Train does not run on Sundays. Rideshare drop-off and pick-up is staged at 4206 Gurley Avenue.
What Won the Food Awards
The Big Tex Choice Awards winners were announced on August 18 from a field of fifteen finalists:
Best Taste, Savory: Burger Chop Tater Tacos, by Tom Grace.
Best Taste, Sweet: Fletcher’s Chocolate Corny Dog, by Beck Fletcher.
Best Taste, Sipper: Tropical Coco Fresca, by Fruteria Cano.
Most Creative: Berry Me in Matcha, by Stephen El Gidi.
Separately, a new “Every Day Values” collection runs all 24 days, marking more than 200 food and beverage items at $10 or less. Coupons are valued at $1 each. An original Fletcher’s Corny Dog is eight coupons, cotton candy is six, and a ride on the historic Dentzel Carousel is six.
New This Year
The main addition is Little Lone Stars Land, an area built for young children with four-coupon kiddie rides and fun houses (three on Tuesdays), a toddler and preschool play area called The Coop, the Oak Farms Dairy petting zoo, and The Fringe Stage running daily street-performer shows. Two new roaming characters, Amy Dillo and Champ, join Big Tex. The Kidway has also been redesigned with a larger footprint and more family rides.
Big Tex has a new pearl-snap Western shirt from Cavender’s, featuring an eagle, star and horseshoe for the country’s 250th. The fair has changed its approach here too: rather than replacing his whole outfit every three years, it will now refresh the shirt annually.
Music, Football and the Auto Show
Every act on the Chevrolet Main Stage is free with fair admission, and three more stages programme all 24 days. Among the names: Clint Black on opening night, Bowling for Soup on September 29, Lee Brice on the 30th, Kansas on October 4, Queensrÿche on the 7th, a Toadies, Tripping Daisy and Deep Blue Something bill on the 11th, and Gym Class Heroes with 3OH!3 on the 17th.
The Red River Rivalry — Texas against Oklahoma — is at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, October 10, with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff. Expect that to be the single busiest day of the run. The Texas Auto Show occupies the Automobile Building, the Centennial Building and the Truck Zone for the full fair.
Before You Go
Two policies to know. Anyone 17 or under must be with a parent, guardian or chaperone aged 21 or over from 5 p.m. onward, with no more than six minors per adult party. And there is mandatory weapon and prohibited-item screening at entry — the fair’s firearms ban was upheld by the Texas 15th Court of Appeals on August 6 and remains in force this year.
Have a great day.