NC State Fair attendance starts slow, but fairgoers welcome ‘small sense of normalcy’
In its first five days, the North Carolina State Fair has seen attendance drop by more than 60,000 people from the last fair two years ago.
It’s a decline that some expected as the continuing COVID-19 pandemic thins out crowds, officials say.
But those on hand in Raleigh report a happy if partial return to social life. They’re calling the Raleigh fair a success so far in spite of lower totals.
In 2020, COVID-19 canceled the Raleigh fair for the first time since World War II, costing millions in lost revenue for the self-supporting fairgrounds.
The total from the fair’s opening day last Thursday through Monday reached 318,014 people through the gates — 63,046 fewer than in 2019. And while fair crowds just topped 27,000 on opening Thursday, the lowest on record for that day, by Sunday they pushed to 93,182 — far more than the same day two years ago.
“Certainly, it’s a hard year to know what to expect, and we are very satisfied with what we’re seeing,” said Kent Yelverton, fair manager. “We’ve had over a quarter of a million people come to the State Fair and that’s exciting. It’s an NC State Fair just like it’s supposed to be.”
Recommended precautions, but not mandates
Other fairs nationwide took strict measures to curb the pandemic’s spread, requiring masks in Washington and vaccine cards in New Mexico.
While North Carolina did not mandate either precaution, it strongly encouraged fair-goers on both counts. So far, Wake County has vaccinated about 90 fair-goers, said spokeswoman Stacy Beard, and expects to get more now that it has more prominent signs at the fairgrounds.
Labor shortages plaguing small businesses across the state have also hit the fair, Yelverton said.
“We depend on our receipts to pay our bills, and just like all other small businesses, we’ve dealt with labor issues this year,” Yelverton said. “It was quite an endeavor to recruit those people and get them on board. We certainly have had folks decide that 2021 is not the year to be at the fair, and we certainly respect that, but it means we’ve got a lot of new people.”
As the fair strikes a balance between emphasizing safety and not curbing fun, the vendors on-site report the crowds trickling in at first but showing up in respectable numbers over the fair-weather weekend. Yelverton hopes for a repeat performance this weekend.
“I’m so happy to see people again,” said Debbie Anderson at Al’s French Fries. “It’s a small sense of normalcy, but I’ll take what I can get.”
