The numbers are in. The NC State Fair’s attendance is back to pre-pandemic levels

Kimberly Cataudella
Riders enjoy the Pirate ride at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. (Ethan Hyman/ehyman@newsobserver.com)

NC State Fair attendance is returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The fair wrapped up Sunday, totaling 960,172 attendees across the 11 days it was in operation, according to final figures released Monday.

The fair’s opening day on Oct. 13 brought nearly double the attendees from 2021. The fair saw over 47,300 attendees, while last year’s opening day brought about 27,200 attendees.

And each day of this year’s fair brought more attendees than each of last year’s fair dates.

After being canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic — the first time in decades the fair wasn’t held — the 2021 fair represented a return to normalcy. Though with people still being cautious about big crowds and others still getting vaccinated, the 2021 attendance figures saw a slump with 824,328 total fair-goers.

While this year did not hit the 1 million mark, as it did last in 2017, its total is higher than 2019 — the last pre-pandemic event.

In a statement, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler attributed the high attendance to being “blessed with good weather.”

NC State Fair 2022 attendance

Here’s a full list of 2022 NC State Fair attendance numbers:

  • Thursday, Oct. 13: 47,309

  • Friday, Oct. 14: 66,519

  • Saturday, Oct. 15: 115,586

  • Sunday, Oct. 16: 105,247

  • Monday, Oct. 17: 64,068

  • Tuesday, Oct. 18: 69,327

  • Wednesday, Oct. 19: 66,057

  • Thursday, Oct. 20: 92,300

  • Friday, Oct. 21: 90,994

  • Saturday, Oct. 22: 136,961

  • Sunday, Oct. 23: 105,804

The final Saturday of the fair saw the highest numbers of the season, bringing in nearly 137,000 attendees. The fair hasn’t seen attendance that high since 2017, when over 148,400 fairgoers attended on the second Saturday of that year.

The 2023 NC State Fair will take place from Thursday, Oct. 12 to Sunday, Oct. 22.

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