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A new State Fair attendance record: nearly 1.8 million
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Follow local news on TwitterThe Great Minnesota Get-Together certainly lived up to its name this year.
If the Minnesota State Fair seemed a bit crowded this year, there was a reason: More people crammed the fairgrounds than ever before.
Fair officials reported Tuesday that attendance hit an all-time record by the time the gates closed Monday night. A total of 1,790,497 people made their way to the fairgrounds during the 12-day run.
That exceeded the old record, set in 2001, by 27,521.
And, the record was set despite the fact that daily records were set on only two days: opening day and last Tuesday.
Those bumper crowds spent $25.2 million on food and drink (not including beer) during the fair's run, according to unaudited numbers released Tuesday. That's $1.1 million more than last year.
Here are the attendance totals for 2009's edition of the fair.
Aug. 27: 114,439, a record. Last year was 103,974.
Aug. 28: 124,991 (compared with 96,993 last year). The record is 129,827 (2004).
Aug. 29: 189,077 (compared with 171,663 last year). The record is 202,126 (1998).
Aug. 30: 191,071 (compared with 183,258 last year). The record is 209,969 (1994).
Aug. 31: 131,705 (compared with 130,767 last year). The record is 143,998 (1994).
Sept. 1: 129,423, a record. Last year was 117,196.
Sept. 2: 110,931 (compared with 88,228 last year). The record is 128,966 (2006).
Thursday: 122,732 (compared with 116,143 last year). The record is 155,183 (1995).
Friday: 155,805 (compared with 165,194 last year). The record is 179,052 (2003).
Saturday: 207,075 (compared with 209,399 last year). The record is 225,249 (1995).
Sunday: 186,324 (compared with 189,228 last year). The record is 215,761 (1999).
Monday: 126,924 (compared with 121,220 last year). The record is 160,209 (2006).
Total: 1,790,497 (compared with 1,693,263 last year). The previous record was 1,762,976 (2001).
BOB VON STERNBERG
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