New features at Rockford's Stroll on State lead to uptick in attendance
More than 70,000 people kicked off the holiday season last year by stopping by Rockford's Stroll on State.
The Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau estimated 70,050 people attended the festive event last year. The final tally is an increase of 12.5 percent from 2021 when 62,500 people attended. Last year's attendance still fell short of 2018's record turnout of 87,500 people.
In the 10 years of Stroll, an estimated 520,800 have attended the event, according to the RACVB. The 2019 Stroll on State ended early because of rain. The 2020 Stroll was held virtually due to COVID-19 and despite 2021's showing, officials believe people were still in recovery mode from the pandemic.
RACVB contracts an event analytics firm that uses mobile device data to estimate attendance figures. Along with the overall attendance, the firm estimated that approximately 75% were Winnebago County residents, and more than 5% traveled from outside Illinois.
Here are some numbers that tell the story of last year's Stroll on State:
85 sponsors, friends and partners
Over 2,400 volunteer hours before, during and after the event
815 Dasher Dash 5k runners
46 outdoor food and retail vendors
350 ornaments adorning the official city of Rockford Christmas tree
68 large gift boxes decorating downtown Rockford
1003 letters by children, 60 from other states and three from other countries
10 parade balloons, including two new Rockford-themed inflatable balloons – Rockford Peaches and Rick Nielsen’s five-neck guitar
82 decorated Jeep® parade entries
Stroll on State is held every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Attendance for Rockford's Stroll on State up in 2022
