At a time when many state fairs across the country are having trouble making ends meet, at least one state fair is doing well. And surprise—it’s not receiving a dime of public funds. The Texas State Fair is set in historic Fair Park, right on the east side of downtown Dallas. A 52-foot cowboy, “Big Tex,” looms large over the fair for the 24 days that it’s open. Food coupons may be 50 cents each, but the fair estimates its impact on the Dallas area is $350 million bucks. That’s a lot of corny dogs.

So how do they do it? The organization that runs the fair is a non-profit. It pays the City of Dallas to rent Fair Park. It relies in large part on sponsors. One of the biggest sponsors this year is Chevy. You might think handing over about a million dollars to sponsor a state fair might be a tough sell in these economic times—and you’d be right. But in the end, Chevrolet says they couldn’t afford not to take part. Chevy has an exhibit with cars here so folks can get in and drive around. An estimated 3.2 million people will come to the fair. Chevy says they’d have to be part of 15 or 20 other events through the year to get that kind of exposure. They ended up selling at least 1000 cars in dealerships after people originally got a test drive at the fair.

Location also plays a big part. The Texas State Fair isn’t in the middle of nowhere—it’s in the middle of Dallas, assuring there are plenty of people nearby to attend. Fair organizers say between Dallas and Fort Worth, there are about six million people in the vicinity. They can hop in their car or take public transportation down to the fair’s 277 acres. Still, the Texas State Fair has made some tough choices this year. They’re putting off some expenses like computers till next year and also delaying a project involving the carnival. The main goal was to make sure this year’s fair attendants don’t notice any penny pinching and just enjoy themselves.