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Even by Trumpian standards, the event was promoted with intense hyperbole: nothing short, the US president suggested, of the “the most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever seen”.

“It’s gonna be great,” Donald Trump proclaimed on the opening night of the Great American State Fair, the centerpiece of the US 250th anniversary celebrations. “It’s gonna be unbelievable.”

In the heart of US capital, a small village of tented pavilions and marquees representing states and territories from across the US has taken over the National Mall. And on Friday morning Dave Forster, 63, was apparently struggling to believe his eyes.

A “friggin​’ patriot” who had traveled from his home in Washington state to Washington DC to mark the milestone, Forster thought many of the state offerings “sucked”, he told the Guardian. “They’ve had how long? It’s just a total disappointment.”

It was unclear whether he had seen the two-dimensional cutout of a grand champion market goat in Nebraska’s pavilion; the toy Caterpillar industrial machines, in a sandpit inexplicably filled with corn, in Illinois; or the two giant dice in the corner of Nevada.

As revelers turned up to explore the fair this weekend, however, the key draw of each state’s offering was not imagination or interactivity, but how much of an escape it offered from the blistering sun.

Temperatures are expected to exceed 100F (37.8C) in Washington amid a scorching blanket across the much of the US. Maybe this is what the president means when he declares it now to be the “hottest country in the world”. According to NBC Washington, more than a dozen people were treated for heat illness and injury at the state fair before it closed, and 11 people were taken to the hospital.

A mother, waiting to clear security with her young family, spoke for many of those present when her son started to plead to go home. “After we get this through this line,” she assured him, “we’re going to find air conditioning.”

Inside the Arkansas pavilion, one host deftly read the room. “Did you hear about the sweepstakes?” she asked several blank faces at they wandered through the door. The prize is a free trip to the state, she explained, but when you enter, “you get a cooling towel, or a fan”.

With a series of military flyovers scheduled, the theme of Friday’s programming – following “Maha (Make America Healthy Again) Monday” and Thursday’s “Horsepower of America” – was “Wings of Freedom”.

In the preceding days, shots of the National Mall on Fox News indicated that a great many of those who organizers had hoped would rush to the fair had, indeed, taken flight.

Some steered clear because they thought the event had veered from patriotic celebration to partisan festival, according to Forster. “They took it to be political,” he said. “It’s not meant to be.”

For much of the week, as it grappled with thin crowds, the event was hit by a series of negative headlines. Images of the Confederate flag were removed from North Carolina’s state booth. A section of the main stage fell to the floor, narrowly missing a troupe of dancers, during rehearsals. And some prices at food and snack stalls, from turkey legs for $23 to “red, white and blue” ice for $7, were certainly unforgettable.

But the arrival of the holiday weekend boosted attendance. Many traveled from far and wide.

“I love it,” said James Bytner, from Virginia, who was in town with his brother. “It means freedom,” he said of his country’s birthday. “It means we can walk around and do what we want to do.”

Bytner declined to disclose his age, but said he had been in Washington for the 204th anniversary. This time around? “So far, so good.”

A distant rumble erupted into a roar overhead as several jets tore through the sky. “That’s why we came,” shouted Bytner.

Some deliberately stayed away. Officials in a string of states declined to participate or make significant investment into the fair, leaving their respective booths relatively sparse. Oregon, for example, said the event was shaping up to be “a more partisan affair” than initially presented.

“They didn’t get any money for theirs, either,” one woman laughed to a fellow attendee as she walked into, and promptly out of, the California pavilion. She did not spend long examining the sole photo of the Golden Gate Bridge on the wall, or the TV helpfully showing where the state can be found on Google Earth.

The messages Washington DC encouraged visitors to scrawl across the walls of its space neatly captured the polarizing discourse that continues to ensnare the nation during its semiquincentennial.

“America is back!!” claimed one. “Trump 2028,” read another. “LETS ALL GET ALONG,” implored a third. Others seized an opportunity to needle the current occupant of the White House, and his agenda. “FREE DC!” read one. “Release the Epstein Files,” urged another. “No kings,” said one.

John, who declined to provide his second name, traveled with his wife from​ Tampa, Florida, to mark the anniversary – but intended to steer well clear of politics. The Fourth of July is about “trying to find common ground, and celebrate in something that’s bigger than us”, he said. “This is about as neutral as you can get it.”

While the president has urged Americans to “please show up” to his address on Saturday night, John wasn’t really interested. It is “probably the very bottom of my list to listen to anyone” over the holiday weekend, he said.

Trump might be headlining this event with campaign rally-style speeches, but in a city where banners of his face remain draped over federal government buildings, his mark – typically anything but subtle – was largely absent, with one notable exception.

Standing in the middle of the fair, next to a ferris wheel, was a model of the 250ft triumphal arch – dubbed “Arc de Trump” – the president is pushing to install in Washington.

While not lifesize, the arch was big enough to fulfill the duty most nearby visitors appeared to welcome it providing. Dozens sheltered in the shadow it cast onto the road.

But patches of shade and free bottles of water were ultimately not enough as temperatures crept up from uncomfortable to unbearable. “Attention,” blared the speakers. The event was postponed. Guest were instructed to head for the exits – and promised the site would reopen after 5pm.

After filling up at last, the National Mall started to empty once again.