The California Mid-State Fair released its revenue numbers for the year and organizers say both the heat and music lineup impacted foot traffic this summer.
The unofficial total of this year’s attendance topped 335,000, a 2% increase over last year's fair attendance.
“It's fun to be at the fair and we try to promote that," Mid-State Fair representative Tom Keffury said. "We try to promote fun whether it's in the carnival or in our shopping venues or the food or the AG and the kids.”
Keffury called this year a success and said revenue in all areas is slightly up this year.
Revenue from the 2024 livestock auctions generated $2,607,587 on 797 animals, unofficially. $801,750 came from the Replacement Heifer Sale and $1,789,406 came from the Junior Livestock Auction. The Small Animal Auction brought in $7,431.
“There's only a handful of fairs that book, big, big-name entertainment," Keffury said. "We're one of those and so we spend an awful lot of money bringing people, like, this year, Carin León sold out. One of the biggest, if not the biggest Latin stars in the world right now."
The concerts, including a sold-out show from Leòn and Jelly Roll, along with the rodeo finals and Monster Truck Madness, brought in 95,000 people, topping last year's 91,000.
“Some of our foot traffic during the day with the heat was down a little, definitely, but made up for it in the evenings, having nice warm evenings that we want people to stick around until midnight when the fair closes is good for us," Jimmy's Waterin' Hole owner Bonnie Loftus said. "I definitely feel like bar sales were up, food sales were a little down, but there's a lot of contributing factors to that."
The industrial arts auction brought in over $296,000 this year — the most ever raised in a single year, according to Tuesday's press release. This year's crowd, according to vendors, had a lot to do with people moving around hotter portions of the day.
“Normally you ramp up for the weekends," vendor Brett Butterfield said. "This year we were ramping up for mid-day of the week. The heat was also strange this year in that it stayed hot so late that we often didn't get busy till 8:30, but then we would be extremely busy at 9:30 and 11. So overall days were slower, nights were busier. I believe we did come up a little bit up for the season.”
