YORK, Pa. — Note: The video is from July 30.
The York State Fair saw a slight uptick in attendance this season after a one-year hiatus brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Fair officials said Tuesday.
A total of 532,037 people attended this year's Fair, which ran from July 23 to August 1, officials said. In 2019, 529,574 people attended, Fair officials said.
This year's Fair had a total of 43 music acts perform on both the Grandstand Stage and the Free Stage. There was entertainment on the Grandstand Stage in each of the Fair's nine nights, including headliners Jake Owen, REO Speedwagon and Styx, Alabama, Kane Brown, Warrant, Slaughter and Kix, Halestorm, and a Battle of the Bands.
“Attendance was driven by a strong concert lineup this year with Kane Brown having 9,594 in attendance, and REO Speedwagon/Styx having 8,048 in attendance," said York State Fair CEO Bryan Blair in a press release. "The average attendance at the paid concerts was 5,457, which we believe sets a modern-day record over the course of eight paid concerts on the Bobcat of York Grandstand Stage.
"For the second consecutive fair we have completely covered the cost of our concert lineup with ticket sales. This is unheard of in modern day Fairs for the level of concerts we had. We continue to prove the theory that if we put people on our stage that people want to see they will buy tickets."
In addition to the on-stage entertainment, the Fair's midway brought in more than $1 million in gross sales for rides, Blair said. There were also fairgrounds fun acts like Hot Dog Pig Racing, Marvelous Mutts, an aquatic acrobat show, and more.
The Weis Markets Livestock Arena housed over 1200 animals throughout the 10 days the Fair, and the Junior Livestock Sale raised $213,288 for young farmers -- an increase from the $206,037 raised in 2019, Blair said.
Next year's York State Fair is scheduled to run from July 22 through July 31, Blair said.