Source: Chris Baysden – Triangle Business Journal
There were a whole lotta people at “A Whole Lotta Happy.”
North Carolina State Fair officials said Monday that this year’s fair – which used the promotional slogan “A Whole Lotta Happy” – broke records for total and single-day attendance.
The fair drew 877,941 attendees this year, beating the previous record of 858,611 in 2007.
The crowd on Oct. 25 also set a single day record of 104,370.
Fair spokeswoman Natalie Alford said that several days of good weather helped boost attendance. She also thought that the recent economic slump might have helped as well.
Tickets for the fair were $7 for adults at the gate and $5 in advance – an affordable recreation alternative for folks who had stayed home and pinched pennies for months.
“People… have been just itching to get out and do something fun and the state fair is fun,” she says.
Powers Great American Midways provided the rides for the fourth time this year. The company is slated to pay the fair $5.50 per paid admission ticket.
That would generate $4.8 million in revenue based on an attendance of 877,941. But Alford said the attendance figure includes some complimentary tickets and that she wasn’t sure yet how much revenue the fair would generate from the event.
The fair ran from Oct. 15 through Oct. 25.
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