STATE FAIR REPORT

Nebraska State Fair attendance up after the move

 

Independent/Matt Dixon
Nebraska State Fair
Fairgoers brave the mega drop, one of only four 135-foot-plus gravity towers in the U.S. Saturday afternoon in the Midway at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island.
From:  norfolkdailynews.com
By David Hendee World-Herald service
August 25, 2013
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- When the Nebraska State Fair gates opened for the first time in Grand Island three years ago, the site was a field of dreams.
Workers hustled to complete finishing touches as midway carnies made their opening pitches. The question of the day inside the gates: "If we build it, will they come?"
Among those who wondered was Tam Allan of Lincoln, a State Fair board member who initially resisted moving the annual event out of Lincoln, its home for more than a century.
"We had no idea who would show up," he said.
As it turned out, Nebraska showed up.
More people attended the past three fairs in Grand Island than turned out in Lincoln each year during most of the past decade. The gate count reached nearly 337,000 last year, a third successive attendance gain. The 1 millionth visitor passed through the Grand Island gates Saturday.
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