The last day of the fair showed that a mix of the “final” day of the fair combined with incredible weather equals record breaking crowds. The final day of the fair did exactly that drawing record attendance the last day of fair with over 58,600 fairgoers enjoying that final piece of the summertime tradition.
The 2022 Delaware State Fair enjoyed strong attendance with 299,511 fairgoers visiting the fairgrounds in Harrington, DE making it the 4th best attendance in fair history. Overall attendance held strong to its past average of 300,000 visitors coming to the Delmarva attraction. With almost 300,000 visitors attending the 2022 Delaware State Fair, and a few records being set, organizers pronounced the 103rd annual Delaware State Fair another great success.
Compared to past years when the Fair was faced with the traditional summertime heat blast, the 2022 Fair took on yet another meteorological challenge. Despite the five days of high temperatures, the crowds strategically planned their fair visits and utilized the seven air-conditioned buildings and selected cool fair-time treats throughout the fairgrounds to help stay cool.
Another cooling feature newly added to most livestock buildings were large industrial grade high velocity, low speed ceiling fans installed to ensure ultimate comfort for animals, exhibitors, and livestock visitors. These large fans helped to keep the livestock cool as they competed for the ultimate grand champion honor.
The start of the official Delaware Lottery Summer Concert series at the M&T Bank Grandstand entertainment schedule kicked off with the near sellout show by Sam Hunt with Roman 2 Alexander.
Assistant General Manager and Director of Marketing Danny Aguilar commented, “The blend of great entertainment offered in and outside of the M&T Bank Grandstand continued to show why the Delaware State Fair, after 103 years, is consistently considered to be one of the best summer destinations for great entertainment on Delmarva. We continue to offer unique diverse entertainment opportunities with great experiences for our patrons like VIP packages, Beer Gardens, live entertainment throughout the grounds, amazing food, shopping and entertainment for kids of all ages.” Near sell outs for Sam Hunt, Nelly and Hank Williams Jr. highlighted a star studded and diverse lineup with Halestorm, Trace Adkins, TobyMac, ZZ Top, a night of Latin Music, and a sold out Demolition Derby helped to deliver a strong Delaware Lottery Summer Concert Series entertainment lineup enjoyed by almost 42,000 fans from all over the peninsula. The Fair played host to several corporate sponsors this year.
According to Danny Aguilar, Assistant GM & Director of Marketing for the fair, “continued support provided by sponsors allows the Fair to provide our patrons with great entertainment and summertime memories. We had several large and small businesses utilize the fairgrounds as an employee outing, offering concert tickets, carnival wristbands and food vouchers as a way to say thank you”. On the carnival side, The Wade Shows provided 42 rides with a mix of super-spectacular class rides such as The Big Wheel and coaster. The Carnival provided a great blend of rides and games of chance for the adults and kids of all ages while using a new contactless technology making customer verification easier.
The new New Castle Agricultural Building multi-purpose building is home for many goats during Fair time and will also support agricultural programming for families residing in underserved rural areas in Delaware offered by Delaware 4-H and the FFA Association.
Another Ag related program was the Antique Machinery Showcase on Saturday, July 23rd which featured agricultural craft demonstrations and live bluegrass music from the group Flatland Drive. Other Ag themed entertainment included the antique tractor display, horse pull competition, antique tractor pull, and livestock shows.
This year’s 2022 grounds attractions included Sponsor Court entertainment, Hertrich Plaza entertainment, roaming attractions and other crowd favorites found throughout the fairgrounds. The Hertrich Plaza featured an upgraded entertainment stage, sound and lights all designed to showcase two amazingly popular acts “Adam Calvert” and hypnotist “Catherine Hickland”. Both acts packed the plaza with nightly performances starting at 6:00pm.
“Duck and Goose” calling presented by DNREC made a return visit to the plaza along with a newly modified Kids Day Fair enjoyed by thousands of campers and families visiting the fair. Other grounds entertainment included Circus Hollywood presented by PNC Bank, racing pigs, Camel Show, a menagerie of exotic animals, butter sculpture and a popular slap stick western show. 3 Tumbleweed Crossing.
“In all, over the ten days of fair, patrons were treated to over 1,100 hours of programmed entertainment which was provided at no additional cost beyond gate admission, not to mention all of the competition (competitive exhibits and livestock) and judging including the annual Livestock Extravaganza” said Assistant GM Aguilar. Livestock, 4-H, FFA and other forms of competitive exhibits dominated the fairgrounds once again.
The Fair received and processed almost 33,000 entries this year originating from 2,642 exhibitors. General Manager DiMondi remarked, “It was great to return to our full livestock schedule, allowing for a full run of animals to join us at the fair. We certainly missed the poultry exhibits and hope for a full return in 2023”.
The Junior Livestock Auction, which represents the culmination of a junior exhibitor’s full year of hard work and dedication, completes an important early agribusiness education program for many of our livestock exhibitors. This year, the auction grossed record sales proceeds of $285,000 with the sale of 121 market animals.
The funds raised are distributed to junior exhibitors who owned the top placing junior market animals. “This year’s fair will certainly go down as a fair to remember as the weather both good and bad played a crucial role in our success this year. As we reflect back on another successful fair, I’m always thankful of the collective hard work of our volunteers, Board members, & staff.
We are already hard at work getting ready for next year’s fair,” commented the President of the Delaware State Fair Board of Directors Ron Draper. The Fair dates for the 104th annual Delaware State Fair in 2023 are Thursday July 20, 2023 through Saturday July 29, 2023.
Source: Delaware State Fair