More than one million attendees made their way to the Wisconsin State Fair this year, marking the largest reported turnout since 1969, Wisconsin State Fair Park officials announced on Monday.
A total 1,012,552 individuals attended the 2013 fair between Aug. 1 and 11, which represents a near 10 percent increase over 2012 attendance levels.
“I’ve worked in fair management for over 30 years,” said Rick Frenette, chief executive officer of Wisconsin State Fair Park. “There are very few fairs in the country that host more than a million people each year, and while the Wisconsin State Fair has long been considered one of the top fairs in the United States, it is still such an honor to reach this landmark number. I’d like to extend a sincere thank you to all of the fairgoers who came out to enjoy the fair this year.”
Frenette attributes much of the fair’s success to both good summer weather and the quality of its lineup of events.
Among the highlights of this year’s fair was a performance by country music star Miranda Lambert, an exhibit of rare white Bengal tigers, a variety of fried food-on-stick menu options, and the fair’s signature cream puffs.
While the fair reported that this year’s attendance levels were the largest since 1969, attendance records determined by scanning of tickets at the gates have only been available since 2002 when the fair introduced ticket scanning technology.
In its 162nd year, the 2013 fair was presented by U.S. Cellular. Next year’s fair has been scheduled to run from July 31 through Aug. 10.
