The State Fair is turning 150 this month with a big celebration.

The 2019 fair will be spectacular with a lot that’s new and some old memories.

Let’s go back to the beginning. There are probably things you don’t know about the fair.

In 1869, at the urging of farmers wanting to showcase agricultural products, lawmakers chartered a State Fair.

The fair began that year on main street in Columbia.

In 1904 the fair moved permanently to 104 acres on Rosewood Drive.

Even though it was chartered by lawmakers, the fair receives no financial support from taxpayers. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit.

The fair has multiple partnerships with groups like 4-H and Future Farmers of America, Clemson University and most recently with the Lexington County Blowfish.

Fair General Manager Nancy Smith told me the Blowfish partnership this year has been great for mutual promotion and bringing awareness to events.

Some other partners are the SC Arts Commission, the SC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Humanities Council and the SC State Museum.

The Fair and its partners put on a huge family-oriented event each October.

What do they do with the money made in the fair’s 12 days?

It goes back into the community. $300,000 of in-state college scholarships go each year to graduating high school seniors.

In 2015 the fair gave $100,000 each to the Salvation Army and Harvest Hope Food Bank.

Nancy Smith said, “If we did not give back, we would not still be here after all these years.”

The State Fair is the largest event in the state every year and draws visitors from every county.

The fair’s income comes from 3 sources: The fair itself, football parking for USC home games and renting facilities to events all year.

The fair has 21 full-time, year-round employees. During the fair that rises to 600.

How about the 150th Birthday celebration and what’s new for 2019?

First, they have decorated “the Rocket” to look like a gigantic birthday candle. The Rocket is a 50-year-old Intercontinental ballistic missile designed by Werner Von Braun and built by the Chrysler Corporation.

It was installed in 1969 at a cost of $10,000. And it has been the favorite meeting place for hundreds of thousands of visitors since them.

Now to what’s new.

• Instead of grandstand shows, there will be a Circus with a 48-foot tall tent from Italy with 3 free shows a day.

• A 150-foot-tall Ferris wheel from the Netherlands will make it’s first debut in the USA. It has 36 heated and air conditioned gondolas. Tickets are available online for $5 until October 8.

• A motorcycle daredevil event and new foods.

• Everyday at noon, the US flag will be raised, the National Anthem played and veterans recognized.

• Brookgreen Gardens is bringing some of its display sculptures and Thomas Humphries, a well-known metal sculptor, will have an exhibit.

• A memory wall in the Ellison Building will have hundreds or photos of past fairs. The fair staff invites the public to contribute photographic memories for the memory wall at the fairgrounds during the 12 day run of the fair.

• The US Postal Service will have special cancellation Fair stamps to mark the 150th anniversary.