The Biscuit Booth is a beloved tradition at the Mississippi State Fair, offering free buttermilk biscuits with syrup.
Established in the 1970s, the booth has served generations of Mississippians and was named the state’s best carnival treat by Food Network.
Volunteers from the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce aim to make around 100,000 biscuits during the fair’s 12-day run.
The Biscuit Booth may be featured in Washington, D.C., as part of Mississippi’s participation in the America250 celebration in 2026.
Every year, the Mississippi State Fair brings rides, pig races, circus shows, concerts, food booths and more to Jackson.
If you ask a Mississippian to describe their favorite things about the State Fair, the Biscuit Booth would probably be on the list.
Each year, the Biscuit Booth sets up on the Midway and gives out free buttermilk biscuits filled with maple syrup to fairgoers.
Over the five decades since its inception, grabbing a biscuit — or two or three — has grown into a beloved tradition. The Biscuit Booth has become synonymous with the Mississippi State Fair.
Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson said the booth shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
“It’s a great event — an iconic event — when people can walk up to the Biscuit Booth with their children, with their grandchildren, and they have now three or four generations of Mississippians who’ve come and gotten a biscuit at the Biscuit Booth,” Gipson said. “It shows no sign of slowing down,” Gipson said. “We’re really proud to keep that tradition going.”
The history of the Biscuit Booth
The Biscuit Booth was established in the early 1970s after Jim Buck Ross, the Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner at the time, took inspiration from a visit to the Missouri State Fair, according to the MDAC.
In Missouri, the biscuits doubled as a demonstration of flour making. Ross tweaked that concept and decided Mississippi’s biscuit booth would demonstrate the milling of cane syrup.
The cane syrup was then added to made-from-scratch biscuits and given out to fairgoers.
In the five decades since, the Biscuit Booth became a tried-and-true staple, an icon of the Mississippi State Fair. Cane syrup was eventually replaced with maple syrup, but the sweet treat has remained essentially the same.
Generations of Mississippians have come to the annual fair to get the buttery biscuits filled with warm syrup.
In August, Food Network named the biscuits the best carnival treat in Mississippi.
100,000 biscuits
Over the years, the biscuit recipe has been perfected, and today’s biscuit makers have the process down to a science.
The biscuit makers are volunteers from the MDAC.
Aguster Lewis, administrative assistant at the MDAC, has worked at the Biscuit Booth for 29 years. In 2018, Gipson asked her to take over as the booth’s manager.
Lewis said everything is planned out no later than September each year, and the booth takes a lot of people working together to make the process run smoothly.
The process is similar to an assembly line. Lewis and other biscuit makers start by mixing up the dough, a combination of self-rising flour, buttermilk and shortening.
Then, the dough, rolled into softball-sized lumps, is passed to workers who roll it out on a floured surface until the dough is half an inch thick, and biscuits are cut using a 2-inch tin can or cutter.
Each pan holds 54 biscuits, six rows across and nine columns down.
The biscuits are then baked for 10 to 12 minutes, or until light golden brown. Workers then make a hole and infuse the biscuits with Blackburn maple syrup.
Lewis said the process is very precise, and the biscuit makers work hard to make sure every biscuit meets their standards. The oven can’t be too hot, the dough can’t be overworked, and the workers can’t twist the cutter when cutting out the biscuits. If the cutter is twisted instead of brought up and out cleanly, the out edges won’t have that layered, flaky shape.
The biscuit makers aim to make around 100,000 biscuits each year during the fair’s 12-day run.
In 2018, Lewis said, the booth gave out nearly 86,000 biscuits. Numbers dipped as COVID-19 kept fairgoers from attending in 2020, and last year, the booth gave out around 60,500 in total.
This year’s fair is expected to draw a large crowd, partly due to Mississippi’s participation in the Great American State Fair.
The Great American Fair is part of America250, a nonpartisan celebration honoring the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
During the week of July 4, 2026, the initiative will conclude with a festival on the National Mall, and Trump will recognize the most patriotic state fair.
Gipson said his team plans to take the Biscuit Booth to Washington, D.C., as part of Mississippi’s representation.
Plans have not been completely fleshed out yet, but Lewis said she would love to make biscuits in Washington, D.C.
When is the Biscuit Booth open?
The Biscuit Booth will operate at different times depending on the day:
Thursday, Oct. 2 and Friday, Oct. 3: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 4 and Sunday, Oct. 5: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 6 and Tuesday, Oct. 7: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 8: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 9 and Friday, Oct. 9: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 11 and Sunday, Oct. 12: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 13: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The biscuits are free, but tickets and ride wristbands are available for purchase online through the Mississippi State Fair website. Tickets will also be available at the gates.
Tickets are available for a discounted price of $8 if purchased in advance on the Mississippi State Fair website. The discount runs through Thursday, Oct. 2.
After Oct. 2, tickets will be $10 each online and at the gate.
Parking is free at the fairgrounds.