Wisconsin State Fair sets modern-day attendance record

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Wisconsin State Fair officials say this year’s fair set a modern-day attendance record.

Organizers say 1.1 million people visited the 11-day fair that ended Sunday in Milwaukee.

In all, 1,130,575 people went through the gates at State Fair Park. It was the seventh straight year attendance topped 1 million.

Officials say the only fair in the 168-year history of the event reporting higher attendance was in 1948, when the fair was 23 days long in celebration of Wisconsin’s Centennial.

That year, the fair drew 1.78 million with average daily attendance of 77,688.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports this year’s event had average daily attendance of 102,779, with five daily attendance records.

Before 2002, attendance was estimated. Now, attendance figures are compiled from tickets scanned at the gates.