Fair hopes to maintain 300K mark
-Dan Deml, Fair President
Dan Deml isn’t one to shy away from wanting to achieve records, but in the case of Steele County Fair’s attendance, he would be just happy continuing to crack the 300,000 mark.
It has been eight years since the fair hit the record of estimated attendance at 350,899.
But as Deml, who is president of Minnesota’s largest fair, looks around at the area he feels it’s unrealistic to expect records all the time.
“You have to recognize that there are only so many people that live in Southern Minnesota,” Deml said. “Populations of rural areas like ours are not growing very much. If you can maintain attendance, that’s about as good as you can expect.”
Deml also recognizes that every other county throughout the area has a fair. “We’re not the only game in town. People are spoiled around here with good fairs all around us,” he said, noting that isn’t the case in some other areas of the state.
The fact that Steele County doesn’t charge anything at the gate, Deml said, is one of the biggest reasons attendance swells as high as it does. “We’re a free fair and we have lots of free entertainment,” he said. “There is a lot of free entertainment for all ages of the family. We offer a good value.”
He also credits the strong 4-H program in Steele County for contributing to such high attendance.
And, of course, there’s weather. Rain and incredible heat can ruin a fair in no time.
“Running a fair is just like farming,” Deml says. “Weather can be your biggest enemy.”
Mother Nature hasn’t been kind over the years. One of the worst years in recent memory was 2016 when the excessive rain caused five of the seven major grandstand shows to be cancelled. During that year, the attendance was 279,737, one of the worst in nearly a decade and the only time in the past 10 years that attendance hasn’t cracked the 300,000 mark.
Since the fair offers free admission, officials can only estimate attendance. They use an equation factoring in arcade sales, midway sales, parking, ATM transactions and beer garden sales to arrive at an estimated attendance.
The first fair in Steele County took place in 1871. Records, however, weren’t kept until 1918 when 5,000 people attended the fair.
Attendance swelled to 72,000 in 1927 when the fair switched to a free gate.
FAIR ATTENDANCE AT GLANCE
- 2021 Attendance: 303,091
- Down 6% from 2019 (no fair in 2020)
- 2019 was highest since 2014
- Record attendance: 350,899 in 2013