The State Fair of Texas wrapped up this weekend, and social media comments about lighter crowds than usual were reflected in the in the final attendance number,
Around 2 million people attended the event this year, according to a news release. This comes after the State Fair of Texas reported 2,385,855 people attended the event in 2024.
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An exact count was not reported, but this could be the least attended State Fair since 2018 when 2,049,118 people attended. Since the 2020 cancelation of the fair due to COVID-19, the lowest official attendance has been 2,202,689 in 2021.
The State Fair opened Sept. 26 this year before having its final day Sunday. The Dallas Morning News reported on the online discussion about low attendance this year earlier this month, writing that people involved with the fair said the beginning of the festival is always the slowest.
“The fair is not empty,” State Fair spokesperson Karissa Condoianis said, according to the Dallas Morning News. “There are plenty of people here. People are coming to the fair. So I would say don’t always believe what you see.”
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A few days after the story ran, about 193,000 people attended the fair on the Saturday of the Red River Rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl. That was the first time since 2018 under 200,000 people attended the fair on game day.
This article originally published at State Fair of Texas sees decrease of nearly 400K in total attendance.