TAMPA, FL – The Florida State Fair 2015 attracted massive amounts of people beating last years numbers. The fair attracted all ages from senior citizens to kids in strollers during the 12-day event from Feb 5- 16.
The Florida State Fair started in 1904, then called the South Florida Fair held in Downtown Tampa. The fair began as a small and humble gathering of locals with some carnival rides, cooking competitions and some featured live stock to name a few.
It was later named the Mid-Winter Festival and finally named The Florida State Fair in 1915. The fair quickly grew to big for the downtown area and was moved to the Florida State Fairgrounds in 1977 where it continues today.
It’s been over a hundred years since its inception but the fair’s theme remains pretty much the same except for the size and popularity that has grown exponentially into a 330-acre 12-day extravaganza with over 500,000 visitors annually.
The organizers were proactive this year by having more Hillsborough County Sheriff’s on the grounds. As expected, they acted expediently and professionally before anything escalated.
The armbands are the new high-tech-tickets that are scanned to get on the rides that were first introduced at last year’s fair.
Before getting on each ride, your armband is scanned, transmitted through a wireless (WiFi) network to software that calculates how many times you and other fair goers get on each ride. The system worked seamlessly this year.
Florida State Fair | 4800 N Us Highway 301 | Tampa, Florida
800-345-FAIR (3247) | www.floridastatefair.com
