Washington County Fair sets attendance record

WASHINGTON — The 2023 Washington County Fair set a new attendance record this summer, in two different ways.

Wednesday, July 19 set a single-day attendance record having just short of 4,000 people pass through the gates. The previous single-day record was Thursday, July 17, 2014 with just over 3,200 people.

For the entire six-day fair, this year breaks the 17,000-guest mark, which is an increase of over 1,000 people from the 2022 fair. Attendance records go back to 2010 and have steadily increased over the last three years.

“Having a week of really nice weather helped out so much, plus the fair board works really hard to bring a wide variety of entertainment which goes on all day long,” Fair Office Manager Jan Dallmeyer said.

Dallmeyer said tickets were counted nightly with wristband sales added after the fair is over.

Fair board member Chris Graf said the group was pleased with the new high-water mark.

“We would like to thank all of the exhibitors, participants, and volunteers that continue to make the Washington County Fair a success,” he said. “We are honored to have welcomed over 17,000 visitors to the fairgrounds in 2023.”

The 2024 Washington County Fair is scheduled for July 14-19.