'A total disappointment': revelers face unbearable heat at Great American State Fair

Source: The Guardian

Fri 3 Jul 2026 17.47 EDT
Last modified on Sat 4 Jul 2026 03.22 EDT


Even by Trumpian standards, the event was promoted with intense hyperbole: nothing short, the US president suggested, of the “the most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever seen”. “It’s gonna be great,” Donald Trump proclaimed on the opening night of the Great American State Fair, the centerpiece of the US 250th anniversary celebrations. “It’s gonna be unbelievable.”

In the heart of US capital, a small village of tented pavilions and marquees representing states and territories from across the US has taken over the National Mall. And on Friday morning Dave Forster, 63, was apparently struggling to believe his eyes. A “friggin​’ patriot” who had traveled from his home in Washington state to Washington DC to mark the milestone, Forster thought many of the state offerings “sucked”, he told the Guardian. “They’ve had how long? It’s just a total disappointment.”

It was unclear whether he had seen the two-dimensional cutout of a grand champion market goat in Nebraska’s pavilion; the toy Caterpillar industrial machines, in a sandpit inexplicably filled with corn, in Illinois; or the two giant dice in the corner of Nevada. As revelers turned up to explore the fair this weekend, however, the key draw of each state’s offering was not imagination or interactivity, but how much of an escape it offered from the blistering sun.

Temperatures are expected to exceed 100F (37.8C) in Washington amid a scorching blanket across the much of the US. Maybe this is what the president means when he declares it now to be the “hottest country in the world”. According to NBC Washington, more than a dozen people were treated for heat illness and injury at the state fair before it closed, and 11 people were taken to the hospital.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/03/great-american-state-washington-dc