Great Allentown Fair opens today, rolls on with music, food and fun through Monday

The Great Allentown Fair kicks off Wednesday, ready to welcome the thousands looking for food, music and fun over the course of the fair’s six-day schedule.

The fair, the long-time last gasp of summer for the Lehigh Valley, opens its gates at 4 p.m. for Wednesday’s opening day, and runs from noon to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and noon to 9 p.m. on the closing Monday. But for those six days, the Allentown Fair has a schedule packed full of events, contests and performances across its grandstand, the Agri-plex, the Farmerama Theater and more.

As droves of Lehigh Valley residents descend upon the fairgrounds for an extra-long weekend of fun, take a look at lehighvalleylive.com’s fair preview to be among the most-informed fairgoers this year.

Tickets are on sale and still available for all of the fair’s grandstand shows this year, and tickets can be found on ticketmaster.com. The schedule of shows is as follows:

• Aug. 30: Styx and REO Speedwagon
• Aug. 31: Tyler Hubbard
• Sep. 1: Nelly
• Sep. 2: Young Gravy
• Sep. 3: Keith Urban
• Sep. 4: J & J Demolition Derby

Of course, in addition to the headlining shows, there’s plenty of other entertainment across the grounds: the Harvest Patio’s full schedule of shows each day of the fair; the Agri-Plex competitions and exhibitions; pig races; BMX stunt shows at the Farmerama Theater; and plenty more. Full schedules and more info are available on the fair’s website, allentownfair.com.

Returning once again this year is the Best New Food competition, which pits 15 vendors with 15 unique food items against each other in a contest decided by fairgoers. Ballots can be picked up at and returned to any entrance gate, the InFAIRmation booth, or the Agri-Plex office.

The 15 foods vying for the Best New Food title this year are:

• Stuffed meatball — Cherry Hill Farm
• Peanut Butter Blast waffle sundae — Mad Waffle
• Cheesy Bacon Ranch with Scallions Chips — Pocono Potato Chip Company
• Bao buns — Dino Sweets LLC
• Iced coffee float — Pies to Die For
• Blueberry dumpling — Bissinger Catering & Concessions
• Nashville hot chicken balls — Cal’s Concessions
• Nilla Nana Delight — Validity Marketing
• Bourbon cinnamon bacon — Bacon on a Stick
• Brooklyn sausage — Charlie’s Italian Sausage
• Grilled peanut butter spare ribs — Kou Kitchen
• The Torpedo — Smokin’ Soul BBQ
• Zeppole — Danny’s Fine Foods
• Mexican Street Corn — Stix 2 Go
• Birria tacos — La Casita de Familia

Check out the fair’s website for a full list of vendors and locations on the fairgrounds map, as well as more information on admission and directions.

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Connor Lagore may be reached at [email protected].