This year’s New York State Fair was 155 people shy of breaking 1 million customers, a feat that has happened twice in its 164-year history. This year the fair drew 999,845 people during the 12-day event—28,572 more than attended last year—making it the third highest attendance in fair history. “It was a great year all around. We had all...
This year’s New York State Fair was 155 people shy of breaking 1 million customers, a feat that has happened twice in its 164-year history.
This year the fair drew 999,845 people during the 12-day event—28,572 more than attended last year—making it the third highest attendance in fair history.
“It was a great year all around. We had all these people there with no major incident. From all the reports we’re getting back, people had a good time, they enjoyed the music, vendors made money. It was a great fair,” said state fair spokesman Frederic Pierce. “The weather cooperated. The concerts drew a lot of people out. The average number of people per grandstand concert was higher than it’s ever been. ... The message got out that the fair is an affordable way to end the summer.”
The attendance record was set in 2001 when 1,011,248 people passed through the turnstiles. The second busiest fair was in 2002 when 1,003,473 people visited.
Nice weather helped attendance this year. Temperatures stayed mostly in the 70s and 80s, except for four consecutive days higher than 90 degrees, and less than an inch of rain fell during the 12 days.
One of fairgoers this year was Zachary Glick, 24, a website administrator for the Syracuse City School District. He has visited the fair every year since 2004.
“It definitely seemed a little more crowded. This has been some of the best weather we’ve had,” Glick said. “The food is good. It’s the only time you can get a fried Twinkie.”
The increase in attendance was also recognized by many of the vendors.
“Business has been really good,” said Ashley Dejohn, 20, a cashier and server at Anthony’s 19th Hole near the Midway.
At The Gingerbread House near Chevrolet Court, Breanna Lioto, 18, was busy serving customers pastries as the fair’s final night came to an end.
“It’s been pretty steady. There’s been times where we’ve been very busy,” said Lioto, who has worked at the fair the last four summers.