Minnesota State Fair sets third daily attendance record

Despite intense heat and a couple of stormy days , the Minnesota State Fair has now set three attendance records in 2024.

On Wednesday, typically one of the fair's slower days, the Great Minnesota Get-Together brought 145,531 through the gates, besting the previous record of 144,940 set in 2018.

The first two days of the fair were also record-setters . On opening day, 138,875 people hit the fair, beating 2019's record of 133,326. On Friday, 171,233 attended, passing last year's number of 164,741.

Records didn't fall in the intervening days with intense heat on Sunday and Monday. Then, late-night storms on Monday delayed Tuesday's opening . Monday's attendance was down more than 60,000 from the 2017 record. However, on Tuesday, despite the delay, the fair missed its high-water mark by only about 9,000.

Related: Why people go to the State Fair six or more times and what we can learn from them

Thursday, Aug. 29 was another relatively slow day with the fair reporting an attendance of just 81,231, down more than 75,000 from its 2018 record and down 48,000 from last year. That may be, in part, due to another cluster of storms that passed through the Twin Cities on Thursday night.

In total, the fair has seen 1,061,423 people hit the fairgrounds over the first eight days. The record was set in 2018 with 2,126,551 admissions. In the last two years, it's had just over 1,800,000 attendees.

Related: The Minnesota State Fair: Everything you need to know in 2024