The 2023 Delaware State Fair saw a three percent rise in attendance from last year.
The fair drew 308,000 people over 10 days — the fifth largest attendance in history — 77,000 of those just on the opening weekend.
Fairgoers in the last three days tolerated temperatures in the mid-90s with heat advisories in effect, but Director of Marketing Danny Aguilar says the grandstand events kept people coming.
“Actually we were fortunate to have stronger concerts, Tyler Hubbard being one, we had a sellout demolition derby, and then harness racing," Aguilar says. "So those last three days we were fortunate to have strong programming scheduled on the grandstand, so they were average to high attendance.”
Other sell-out shows included “Fluffy” and Lainey Wilson with Kameron Marlowe.
Aguilar adds new safety measures were also well received.
“Some folks came out and ventured to the fair for the first time, noticing the notification ahead of time that we had moved into metal detectors," Aguilar says. "So we are very pleased with the overall performance, there are some adjustments that we’ll make for next year, and we definitely look forward to continuing to make the Delaware State Fair a family-friendly and safe environment.”
July 24th was the Food Lion Feeds Hunger Relief Day, where fairgoers donating at least five non-perishable food items received free admission. Over 19,000 pounds of food was collected which will help to create over 23,000 meals for Delawareans.
The Fair received and processed over 35,000 entries this year for livestock, 4-H, FFA, and other forms of competitive exhibits, originating from 2,689 exhibitors.
And the Junior Livestock Auction grossed record sales proceeds of $293,000 with the sale of 122 market animals.
