GEDDES, N.Y. \u2014 From Flo Rida and Ashanti to throwback pop, country, rock and R&B, the New York State Fair\u2019s concert lineup is covering a lot of musical ground this year.<\/p>\n
And for some fairgoers, that variety is helping decide exactly when they come through the gates.<\/p>\n
Saturday brought more than 114,000 people to the Fair, the biggest singleday turnout since 2019. Third Eye Blind also drew an estimated 49,000 people to Suburban Park that day, placing the concert among the largest in Fair history.<\/p>\n
The concerts are included with an $8 Fair admission ticket, something Pop 2000 concertgoers Sam Nessia and Shawnna Popluhar said adds significant value.<\/p>\n
\u201cNowadays ticket prices are insane,\u201d they said. \u201cWe go to concerts all the time and it\u2019s a very expensive lifestyle, but then being able to come here and experience these concerts for $8 is such a cool opportunity for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pop 2000 Tour brought a nostalgic crowd to Chevy Court Tuesday, while Scotty McCreery drew country fans to Suburban Park later that night.<\/p>\n
That range extends beyond the Fair\u2019s biggest stages.<\/p>\n
At the NAACP Van Robinson Pan-African Village, music, food, vendors and cultural programming are designed to highlight different communities and traditions from across New York.<\/p>\n
One village member said the variety of entertainment helps bring different generations and cultures together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the different mixed cultures is bringing other communities from around the state together,\u201d they said, pointing to acts ranging from Ashanti and country performers to older-school groups. \u201cIt\u2019s bringing a mix of OG\u2019s to youth.\u201d<\/p>\n
For some visitors, the music lineup does more than add to the Fair experience, it determines the day they show up.<\/p>\n
Scotty McCreery fan Don March said Tuesday was his first and likely only day at the Fair this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably our only day just to see Scotty mainly,\u201d March said. \u201cLast year we only came once to see a concert again, so I would say it\u2019s pretty influential for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
March said his family has made the Fair\u2019s included concerts an annual tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these they call \u2018free shows,\u2019 which you get with your ticket, which is basically free,\u201d he said. \u201cDefinitely worth it. We enjoy them. We come to at least one a year for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The variety continues throughout the final days of the Fair, with acts ranging from Tori Kelly and ZZ Top to Stokley, Trace Adkins, Robin Thicke and Wyclef Jean.<\/p>\n
For fans, the choice may be less about whether there is something to hear and more about which day\u2019s soundtrack gets them through the gate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GEDDES, N.Y. \u2014 From Flo Rida and Ashanti to throwback pop, country, rock and R&B, the New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-335635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}