The Ionia Free Fair: ten free days every July

Ionia is home to the Ionia Free Fair, billed as the largest free-admission fair in the country. It started in 1915 — championed by Fred Green, an Ionia mayor who later became Michigan’s governor — and the big idea has never changed: there’s no gate admission. Anyone can walk in free.

Held every July at the Ionia County Fairgrounds, the fair runs for ten days (locals call them “the ten best days of summer”) and draws hundreds of thousands of people — recent years have topped 400,000. You’ll find one of the largest midways in Michigan, grandstand concerts, motorsports like tractor pulls and demolition derbies, livestock and 4-H exhibits, and plenty of fair food. (Admission is free; you pay only for parking and ride wristbands.)

It’s the centerpiece of Ionia’s summer. The fairgrounds are at 317 S. Dexter Street; schedules are at ioniafreefair.com.