(La Porte County, IN) - The La Porte County Fair set an all-time attendance record this year. 

 

Brett Kessler, treasurer of the La Porte County Agricultural Association board that runs the fair, said attendance topped more than 100,000 people for the first time in the history of the fair based on a review of attendance records kept from previous fairs.

 

The fair ran for eight days through July 13th.

 

“All in all, it was a great week,” Kessler said.

 

The record attendance of 102,308 is even more impressive considering how much it’s gone up since 2017 when the number of people entering the gates was about 68,000.  Last year, attendance was 91,454.

 

Kessler credited good weather, except for rain on July 9th when fair attendance was still fairly strong, as the primary reason for the record turn-out.

 

He said the most heavily attended day was on July 12th when over 14,000 people entered the fairgrounds on Indiana 2, just west of the La Porte city limits.

 

Kessler also felt new attractions in recent years have factored into the rising attendance.  This includes the Curious Kids Tractor Trail, where children ride small battery powered tractors on the trail and fill baskets with various items along the way before returning.  They've also added the sand shark show, where two sand sharks are visible through a tank resting on the trailer of a semi-truck.   And the sting ray petting zoo has become popular, where more than a dozen species of sting rays in a shallow pool are available for fairgoers to pet at no cost and they could be fed by fairgoers for a minimal cost.

 

“Those were all very popular,” he said.

 

Kessler also noted the fair this year included more than 1,100 4-H youth exhibiting over 4,000 entries, including over 1,000 open class entries ranging from dairy cows and rabbits to home and family arts related entries.

 

An outreach also resulted in more than 700 children with organizations such as the YMCA and local Boys and Girls Club branches coming to the fair.

 

“Hopefully, some of those kids went home and said mom and dad let’s go back to the fair,” he said.