A total of 612,404 visitors streamed through the gates of Hastings Park for the 2025 PNE Fair, which wrapped up its 115th edition on Labour Day Monday.
The beloved end-of-summer tradition once again drew crowds with its mix of live entertainment, rides, food, and cultural showcases, closing out another year as British Columbia’s largest and longest-running annual event.
This was comparable to the attendance levels of the PNE Fair in 2023 and 2024, but it represented the lowest turnout since at least 2005, excluding the pandemic years from 2020 to 2022.
In 2024 and 2025, the PNE Fair underwent a temporary reconfiguration to accommodate construction of the new Freedom Mobile Arch amphitheatre, with its striking mass-timber roof impossible to miss for visitors in the Hastings Park skyline. The nightly PNE Fair concerts were relocated to the Pacific Coliseum, the Superdogs shows moved to the Agrodome, and other programming typically held near the amphitheatre site was shifted to smaller footprints elsewhere.
The major construction milestone of installing the final mass-timber beam for the amphitheatre’s roof was made on Aug. 20, in the midst of the fair period.
Construction progress on the Freedom Mobile Arch, the new PNE amphitheatre, as of Aug. 20, 2025. (PNE)
“We’re incredibly proud of the success of the 2025 Fair. Despite the economic uncertainty being experienced across our province, this year’s mix of new attractions, returning favourites, and an outstanding Summer Night Concerts lineup really connected with our guests,” said Shelley Frost, president and CEO of the PNE, in a statement.
“With construction continuing on the new Freedom Mobile Arch, our team embraced the opportunity to creatively reimagine our spaces, and the feedback from our visitors about their experience at this Fair has been fantastic. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back in 2026 to experience the completed Arch, which will usher in an exciting new era of entertainment at the PNE.”
Apart from some minor precipitation on the morning of the first day of this year’s fair, the weather was highly cooperative throughout the 15-day event.
Here is a breakdown of the PNE Fair’s annual attendance history:
2025 — 612,404
2024 — 637,920
2023 — 626,531
2022 – 529,000 (75 per cent sized pandemic Fair)
2021 – 239,000 (substantially scaled back pandemic Fair)
2020 – 7,362 (drive-in pandemic Fair)
2019 – 731,708
2018 – 705,381
2017 – 722,466
2016 – 712,367
2015 – 678,193
2014 – 769,242
2013 – 712,049
2012 – 763,000
2011 – 803,598
2010 – 937,485
2009 – 855,137
2008 – 753,298
2007 – 906,808
2006 – 958,781
2005 – 903,467
The new amphitheatre is scheduled to be completed just in time to serve as the centrepiece of Vancouver’s official FIFA Fan Festival at the PNE fairgrounds from June 11 to July 19, 2026, coinciding with the five-week-long 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Just weeks after the tournament wraps up, the covered outdoor concert and performance venue will make its debut as a signature attraction of the 2026 PNE Fair.
With capacity for up to 10,000 spectators — 6,000 fixed seats under the roof and space for 4,000 more in the grassy open-air viewing area in the BCLC Backyard — the new amphitheatre will transform the PNE Fair’s programming, including its nightly concerts, while also greatly expanding the fairgrounds’ ability to host a wider range of events year-round. The Freedom Mobile Arch replaces the previous 1960s-built temporary dilapidated amphitheatre on the same footprint.
BCLC Backyard; concept of Freedom Mobile Arch, the new PNE amphitheatre. (Revery Architecture)
Concept of Freedom Mobile Arch, the new PNE amphitheatre. (Revery Architecture)