We checked out Trump’s Great American State Fair. It is, and isn’t, what you’d think.

WASHINGTON — Down the lush green grass of the National Mall, past the 110-foot Ferris wheel and the scaled-down reproduction of President Trump’s proposed Triumphal Arch, the Massachusetts booth at the Great American State Fair was essentially a do-it-yourself project.

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Itssingular attraction?Maple syrup.

That was one of the oddities of the 16-day extravaganza, which began on Thursday, to mark the nation’s 250th birthday. Perhaps fittingly for America in 2026, it opened with a mix of the wholesome, the partisan, and the just plain bizarre.

The fair is a production of Freedom 250, the organization launched by Trump last year to give the type of MAGA-spin on the semiquincentennial festivities — think the White House UFC fight — that the bipartisan,congressionally created America 250 organization would not.

The event, Trump’s brainchild, assigns each of the 56 US states and territories a booth among more than 150 exhibits that “showcase the very best of America.” He kicked it off with a rally Wednesday night. And as people began visiting the Greco-Roman-style pavilions, the sprawling exposition reflected America’s Tilt-A-Whirl politics as it celebrates a milestone anniversary.

Despite the region’s pivotal role in the American Revolution, New England was largely a fair draft-dodger. Five of the six state governments declined to participate in what Democrats dismissed as a Trump-centric carnival. Nationwide, a few other states also skipped it.

After Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey balked at the price tag — she estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund it — a 72-year-old Trump supporter from Greenfield, Mass., took matters into her own hands.

“I was upset about it,” the woman, who declined to give her name out of fear of political repercussions, told the Globe as she manned the Massachusetts booth Thursday morning. “Why have an empty spot when they come in? They see nobody, nothing.”

Instead, they saw maple syrup.

It might not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Massachusetts, but the state has more than 300 producers, so she reached out to some near her town. Winston’s Sugar House in Shelburne Falls answered the call, donating tiny bottles.

After getting the OK from the fair organizers, she filled the trunk of her Toyota Camry and drove nine hours to Washington. As fairgoers started trickling in Thursday morning, the bottles were arranged on two tables along with brochures about the state’s maple syrup industry and otherother Massachusetts pamphlets in front of the unique backdrop the fair organizers created for every state and territory.

Within minutes, thebottles started disappearing as fairgoers grabbed for the freebies.

But at least Massachusetts had a display — a fact many visitors noted. A few doors down, empty chairs, potted plants, and collage-style backdrops were all that greeted visitors eager to see the offerings of Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, or Connecticut.

“It’s kind of pathetic,” said Marie Issa, 68, of Lincoln, R.I., when she saw her home state’s display, consisting of two wicker chairs and a small table in front of Freedom 250’s Rhode Island backdrop.

“It’s not a right or a left issue, it’s for the people,” her husband, Lou Paolino, 72, said of the fair.Both Trump supporters, they attributed the boycott to politics, blaming the state’s Democratic governor.

The sole official New England participant was New Hampshire, which has a Republican governor. One of the giveaways at that booth: maple syrup.

While New England was largely MIA, other states went all in. There was virtual reality pheasant hunting and railroad simulation. There were life-size buffaloesand more than one ceramic cow.

Utah spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a museum-quality display because it’s a “once-in-a-250-year opportunity to highlight your state on the National Mall,” explained Mike Mower, a senior community relations adviser in the governor’s office.

States only had a few months to conceive, organize, and fund their booths ahead of the fair’s opening. Big Republican-led states, for the most part, produced the most lavish displays: Florida offered a piped-in orange grove scent and manatee plushies. At Texas, you could visit the Alamo and outer space within five feet of each other. Tennessee had snacks and a mini re-creation of the Grand Ole Opry stage.

A fewDemocratic-led states did participate. Illinois stood out with its re-creation of Wrigley Field’s iconic scoreboard — the exhibit was run by a Peoria-based museum and its private funders were made clear on a sign by the exit. New York had a massive display and large staff put on by the state’s tourism division.

New Hampshire’s booth, staffed by the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, had a nicely on-brand emphasis on nature, but it’s not clear how many fairgoers would be riveted by an exhibit detailing the collapse of the state’s beloved Old Man of the Mountain more than 20 years ago.

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The steady stream of fairgoers who ducked in and out of the booths seemed motivated by the age-old siren call of free stuff. Mere hours into the fair’s opening, lines formed at the exhibits known to have swag: Mardi Gras beads from Louisiana, Arizona’s cactus pens, and Michigan’s potato chips.

The sights and sounds of a quintessential state fair were everywhere.

Standing near a mini-rodeo pen, a man calmly explained how to castrate a bull using rubber bands over the loud speaker as “Classic” by MKTO boomed from a nearby stage.

Politicians and Cabinet secretaries milled about the booths, but the tone was not overtly political.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine was personally on hand with Ohio first lady Fran DeWine, greeting and taking pictures with visitors to Ohio’s booth.

“I thought we should be here, this is a big deal,” DeWine told the Globe. “I think it’s America’s event. I mean, if you talk to people who are here, people are not talking politics. … It’s just kind of fun. And it’s supposed to be fun.”

For a time, it was easy to forget the swirl of political drama surrounding the event. Then around noon on Thursday, a 32-year-old manfrom Dallas who declined to give his name took to one of the stages and encouraged the crowd (which, then still sparse, mostly ignored him) to gather on the grass in front.

“We are here to honor the greatest nation in the history of the world,” he said as horses now rode through the rodeo grounds across the expanse. “We are here to glorify the God of our nation and his son, Jesus Christ.”

What followed was a speech that mixed American exceptionalism, political references, and religious revival, in what amounted to a MAGA slam poem centered around the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Sections of the fair located on the opposite side of the Ferris wheel were unmistakable markers of Trump’s America.

There was a Truth Social booth where you could scroll through Trump’s social media feed on an iPad, and religious-themed booths, including one from the Museum of the Bible.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX display featured a large television screen playing slick, slo-mo B-roll of blasting rockets, strutting astronauts, and Cybertrucks.

Hillsdale College, a conservative institution in Michigan, presented fairgoers a photo opportunity to sign the Declaration of Independence while wearing a powdered wig.

And AI-generated George Washington greeted fairgoers inside a Freedom Truck mobile museum curated by the conservative media company PragerU.

In contrast to the state displays, some of the booths dedicated to federal agencies had a decidedly Trumpian feel, punctuated by the banner that simply read “War” for the rebranded Defense Department.

Also present was the Department of Homeland Security. Notably, amid its recentredirection away from moreconfrontational immigration enforcement, the focus was instead on the Secret Service. Immigration agencies were not mentioned.

The Department of Agriculture booth prominently displayed a poster of a smirking Trump with the tagline: America is Back. The Treasury’s booth was dominated by Trump Accounts, a government program to establish investment accounts for American children.

Nearby, the Department of Energy tent (of all places) at one point lost power. “We didn’t pay our bill,” a department employee joked.

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Sophie Endrud of Globe staff contributed to this report.