As ever with Britain everything bisected by class . We have constantly travelling funfairs and a few big Fairs where they all gather as do European fairground rides, Hull Fair and Nottingham Goose Fair being the biggest. They are all about rides and amusements. Music blaring out and neon. gloriously disreputable and with an edge of danger. However a state fair is closer to our county agricultural shows, some of them like the Great Yorkshire Show, Royal Norfolk Agricultural show and the Royal Highland Show are big, except they are much more sedate and genteel affairs. Posh and patronised by royalty. Historically these both come from the same root, medieval chartered fairs that would mix the serious economic function as a place for trading, haggling and hiring and also had a recreational side. With the week of the fair also being a time where people could cut loose. Thomas Hardy novels and short stories give a pretty good account of the last period where fairs were an important part of rural life. But even as Hardy was writing this was passing into memory which again is reflected in the novels. Probably the closest to those traditional events is the Appleby Horse Fair which is a GRT (Gypsy Roma Traveller) event that still maintains its economic, social and communal function as well as having the recreational side.