Minnesota State Fair sees drop in attendance Thursday after severe storms
The Minnesota State Fair was hit by severe weather Thursday, sending hundreds of people to seek shelter from heavy rain and wind.
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (FOX 9) - Only 81,231 people attended the Minnesota State Fair on Thursday, a significant drop from the record-setting 145,531 fairgoers the day before.
What we know
After rising attendance on Tuesday and Wednesday, Minnesota State Fair attendance took a nosedive after heavy rain and confirmed tornadoes tore through Minnesota on Thursday.
READ MORE: Minnesota State Fair sets 3rd attendance record for 2024
In 2023, more than 1.8 million people attended the Great Minnesota Get-Together. The record for total attendance was set in 2019 when 2,126,551 people attended the fair.
So far, just over 1,061,000 people have attended the fair.
Dig deeper
The fair set back-to-back records to start in 2024, with high attendance on both opening day (138,875 people) and the first Friday (171,233 people).
On Aug. 26, the state fair had its lowest attended Monday and first Sunday since the 1980s, likely due to a mixture of extreme heat and impending storms. Tuesday rebounded slightly, but attendance was still lower than in 2023.