It's too soon to know for sure, but attendance at the California Mid-State Fair is looking up this year.
"We have seen tremendous crowds the first 10 days and we have two days left. We expect big crowds tonight and Sunday," said Tom Keffury, California Mid-State Fair spokesman.
Keffury says although the official numbers will not be in until next week, early indicators are pointing toward a successful year.
“Concert ticket sales have been very, very strong and are a key indicator of overall attendance,” Keffury said.
A diverse selection of musical acts from Pitbull and Styx to Tim Mcgraw likely contributed to the fair’s success.
"Country, of course, we’ve had rock, but we’ve also had the Christian act. Of course, we’ve had a Hispanic act and rap and R&B. It’s just been a great lineup this year, and we’ve seen all of the acts supported by the community,” Keffury said.
The Luke Bryan concert brought in some big crowds as well.
“It was a sold-out show with 15,000 people in the arena. It was a big, big night for us,” Keffury said.
The country concert helped propel food and drink sales to a new high.
“Luke was our busiest day,” said food vendor Mark Davis.
The Pitbull show was the second busiest day at the fair so far.
“We definitely saw an uptick in crowd activity after 10 o’clock, when the concerts let out,” Keffury said.
Some vendors believe this season's food and drink sales will surpass last year's.
"Sales have been going up, so we’re kind of on a climb now," Davis continued.
Others say that their business took a hit this time around because of the high temperatures.
"Sales were a little bit down, not too much but we went down from last year,” said food vendor Marina Mendoza. “This weekend with the rodeo and monster trucks I hope we can get busy too.”
Some say that the fair has been a great way to interact with community members.
“We walk around and show our support to different organizations at the fair and it’s great. It’s super fun. We love interacting with people,” said Natalie Boyd, Mid-State Fair Princess 2nd Runner-Up.
Saturday night is the Country Rodeo Finals and the Extreme Truck Madness event will be Sunday evening.
