LINCOLN — Attendance at this year's Nebraska State Fair totaled 367,203 people, nearly 19 percent higher than 2008. It was the highest attendance in six years.
Executive Director Joseph McDermott said today that Sunday's crowd totaled a record 71,627 people -- a 35 percent increase compared to the same day last year. The second Sunday of the 10-day event traditionally sees the largest attendance of the year.
"That's the largest crowd we've ever had since we started counting people coming through the gates," McDermott said. "For all intents and purposes, it was the largest day we ever had."
Prior to 1998, fair officials offered only estimates of the crowd.
Monday was the final day of the fair's 108-year run in Lincoln. Next year, it will be held in Grand Island, making way for a University of Nebraska research park.
Cheering crowds lined the streets for a Monday afternoon parade, which was sponsored by the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation. Organizers distributed colorful clappers and bells to spectators, so they could provide support and extra noise.
As the parade drew to a close and the crowd wandered off, the announcer's voice carried through the area: "I look forward to seeing all of you at next year's Nebraska State Fair."
For some Nebraskans, like Rose and Al Gruenes, 73, attending next year's fair is a given, as long as they remain healthy. The couple from Colon, Neb., come to the fair to see their grandchildren show cattle. Rose, 71, said she enjoys all the "different wild and wacky foods" that are available.
"I hate to see it leave," she said. "It's kind of tradition. But I guess something new would be OK, too. This will give people out in western Nebraska a chance to participate."
But for Dianne Randall and her family, this year's state fair was their last.
Randall, 58, said she attended the fair all her life. She came to people-watch, to walk the grounds and to sample the concessionaires' foods.
The grounds' historic buildings are part of her memories as well, and she doesn't want to see the Lincoln location shut down. "It's just not right," Randall said.
Fair employees now will begin identifying which equipment to move to Grand Island and which to sell at auction, scheduled for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
McDermott said he will move his office to Grand Island in November and December. Two or three staff members will follow him.
The fair will obtain an appraisal of its horse-racing equipment and sell it to the Nebraska Horsemen's Benevolent Association by the end of the year. The group is taking over the fairground's racing operation through 2012.
Officials eventually will discontinue electrical power and water service to the Lincoln site, but not until after several events, including horse race simulcasting, scheduled through Dec. 31.
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