Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Highlights Enhancements to Agricultural Facilities at The Great New York State Fair

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul today kicked off The 2025 Great New York State Fair, highlighting a series of new enhancements to The Fair’s agricultural facilities and exhibits that will help fairgoers connect with this important industry in New York. The Governor unveiled a new Sheep and Wool Center, and horse stables, along with plans for a brand new Milk Bar. Under Governor Hochul’s direction, The New York State Fair continues to focus on its agricultural heritage and remains the most affordable state fair in the nation. This year’s Fair will run from August 20 through Labor Day Monday, September 1, 2025.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

Well, Commissioner Ball, it certainly is a legendary day at the Great New York State Fair. I want to thank you for your extraordinary leadership and the passion you bring to your position. You're the greatest ambassador a Governor could ever ask for. You’ve spread yourself far and wide and your entire incredible team at Ag and Markets to let the agricultural community know they matter to us. We cherish them. We want them to prosper. And for all those outside New York who think New York is just a bunch of skyscrapers, welcome to the rest of the state because we're very proud of it. Thank you, Commissioner Ball.

Julie LaFave, Director of the Fair. Doing a great job, Julie, stand up and take a bow.

We have a lot of elected leaders here today. I am so proud of them. I consider them all my friends. Let's give a special round of applause to a guy who's in one of the ugliest fights in the world right now, which is in our U.S. Capitol, and that is our Congressman, John Mannion. Stand up and take a bow, John.

Then you have our Majority Leader who came all the way here, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who's in a much friendlier place than the great capital of Albany. Let's give her round applause for her friendship. Looking forward to spending the day together. And thank you for leading the incredible group of individuals and dedicated public servants. And I know our elected officials from the Assembly and the Senate have been recognized and our County Executive and our many county legislators.

And to all my members of my senior team and my commissioners, please stand up and take a bow. I treasure every one of you. Stand up. Stand up. Stand up. Wow. Thank you for your commitment to public service. It is not the easiest job, especially with a very demanding Governor, but you never let me down. I'm so proud of every one of you. So thank you.

We're also fortunate to have the Representative from the Oneida Indian Nation, Ray Halbritter. Ray, where are you? Stand up, Ray. Stand up and take a bow. Ray Halbritter and all of our officials here today.

So let's get started. Actually, we all want to go out and have some fun. This is already a fun place. How is the food, number one? Is that a good taste of New York? Yes, it is. You got really interesting critters walking around. A couple of things over here that need a haircut, I thought. Any barbers in the house? But this is really a special day for me. I look forward to this every single year. And we do make investments. We believe in supporting institutions like this that have been here for over 184 years. It's part of the New York story, and I've been coming here since I was a young girl, brought my family, we all showed up here. I'm a real county fair person, but also a State Fair aficionado.

And you may have heard me tell this story, but my very first public speaking was at a county fair, Erie County Fair. Used to go there every single day and I was part of 4-H. Any 4-H-ers in the house? And I love 4-H, I love FFA — how we're creating our leaders of tomorrow.

I was a little 10-year-old and I was told I had to give a speech or demonstrate how to make something — I didn't have any animals to show, just so you know that, I didn't have any animals other than a cat, but that's a different story. I decided to make a healthy smoothie. This is a long time ago when people were not buying smoothies the way they do now. I was ahead of my time. It was called the banana orange frosted, and I can still tell you the ingredients, and I had a nice poster to tell you how healthy this nutritious breakfast drink was.

So, my first time public speaking, I was so nervous. I'm looking out at the vast crowd of my mom and dad and my brother and my sisters, that's the only audience I had. But I was out there, I put myself out there developing some leadership skills that may have helped me later in life. But that's what we do for our young people as well in organizations like FFA and 4-H and all the other groups that participate here. So that's why as a leader of the State, but also as a parent, I know how important it's for our young people to learn leadership skills and how to be comfortable, and to be ultimately part of an organization that'll help propel them to greater heights. So I want to celebrate those as well.

But we're going to keep making investments, $35 million this year. We're spending a lot of money here every year, but you guys are worth it. Upgrades to the Chevy Court and Suburban Park, modernize our stage area, state-of-the-art equipment, enhanced facilities.

But you know what? There's something else I really like, isn't it great to go to the dairy bar and get the most delicious richest milk you'll ever drink — and I'm always a fan of the chocolate milk — for 25 cents? Twenty-five cents. That is the greatest deal in America. Thank you to our dairy farmers. But that place needs a little sprucing up, so we're investing $3 million to make sure that we have the very best there, outside refrigerated storage. You don't need to know all the details, but here's the bottom line for all of you: not only are we going to go from vanilla and chocolate, drum roll, we're introducing strawberry, okay? Just want to put that out there. See, great things happen at the State Fair.

This is really important to me, to know that we're focusing on our agricultural community because I'll tell you this about our farmers, they're under siege right now. They are under siege. The Commissioner is hearing this. I gathered a roundtable of farmers in the State Capitol back in February and talked to them about what they're going through. They are so overwhelmed with the tariffs. They're losing the markets that they used to count on because people are boycotting American products because of the tariffs that are being imposed by President Trump all over the world.

The cost of so much coming in from Canada has gone up dramatically. The aluminum and the steel for their buildings. Even the shavings, the wood shavings that go into the stalls comes from Canada because that's where a lot of our wood comes from. It's not just for housing. They're having a huge impact.

One farmer told me — this was back in February before it all really hit — he was already having to pay $10,000 more a month for those kinds of supplies and the fertilizer than he had before. How are they going to make it? And then we have hardworking people who are willing to do work that many people won't do, whether it's 6:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m., milking cows on a dairy farm or picking crops long hours into the season, doing everything you can to support your family. And then we have ICE raids all over the state swooping in and terrorizing people who’ve become part of that farmer's family.

Everybody when you wake up in the morning, say a prayer for our farmers because they're getting hit so hard. Do everything you can to support them. Yes, eat their food, support them, visit them, tell them how much we appreciate them because they're going through some of the toughest years and then they have to deal with extreme weather and climate change and flooding and droughts.

I come out of an agricultural family, my family with a long line of dairy farmers and crop farmers in Ireland, and I go visit them and they're still working the land. So I have a deep felt, innate appreciation for what they do.

So this Fair is about fun and showcasing our great attractions, stopping all the New York State–sponsored buildings, but also going to the Native American village, go to the Pan-African Village, go to all those places. But don't forget that this starts as an agricultural society and this is how we celebrate them too. So to all of our people here to celebrate them — our college presidents who are involved in agriculture, I know we have a number of them here today, college presidents, please stand up. As well as those who are educating the farmers of tomorrow. So let's get started.

I have something very special to run to right now. There is a woman in this audience, if you don't know her, you do not know New York State, you must be out of state or just visiting today, because everybody knows Linda Robinson. She is a treasure. She is a leader, she's a pioneer and she and her husband Van have transformed this entire region with their advocacy on so many projects. And I was really proud to announce — because Van understood as a leader of the NAACP and a leader in the city council, how important it was to reunite severed communities that had once been one that were divided into two because of the construction of I-81. This was a passion of his to reunite a community that felt that they had been disconnected, overlooked, ignored and they truly were. That is happening right now, and I'm proud that we announced that we're going to name part of that road in honor of Van.

But also there's a place right here that is so important to him and Linda, and that is the Pan-African Village. And so what we're going to be doing here today — I'll make it official so I don't screw this up — we're going to be presenting Linda Brown Robinson with a plaque that's going to dedicate this facility in Van Robinson's name. So I'm going to present this plaque to her. There it is.

Linda, come on up. Let me read this to you, “Van Robinson Pan-African Village stands as a lasting tribute to Syracuse leader and community advocate Van Robinson. His vision of unity and diversity and passion for the Pan-African Village helped bridge a gap showcasing the beauty of inclusivity and welcoming fairgoers from near and far to experience its cultural celebration.” This one's for you, sweetheart.

[...]

And now I believe it's time to officially open the Fair. This is Governor's Day and that means we want all of our elected officials to come up on the stage. We'll cut the ribbon and then let's let the festivities begin. Thank you, everybody.