The weather gods blessed Iowans and the Iowa State Fair during the second weekend in August. A record number of attendees enjoyed a day at the fair!

Once in a while, an amazing day of weather collides with an outdoor event that propels the attendance numbers to new heights! What I'm trying to say here is...it's way better to enjoy a day at the Iowa Fair when it's sunny and 78 as opposed to sunny and 95! When incredible weather collides with one of Iowa's favorite events, we have a little bit of a Big Bang theory.

I don't want to speak for every single Iowan or every single person who lives in the midwest but when it's cold in January and I think of summer, I picture sunny and 78 degrees. Those are the days we dream of when we grab our winter jackets, hats, scarves, and gloves as we head outside to shovel our driveways.

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When you combine sunshine, 78 degrees, and the Iowa State Fair, Iowans break records.

Record-Setting Saturday

According to KCCI, no single day has drawn more visitors in 170 years at the fair than this past Saturday, August 10th. Saturday's attendance was a new all-time single-day record of 128,732 people. This day broke the previous record, which was 128,298 attendees in 2022.

This first Saturday had more than 1,500 people than the previous "first Saturday" record and there were 10,000 more attendees this year than on the same day in 2023.

Sunday Also Broke a Record

Not to be completely outdone by its big brother, Sunday was also a record-setting day at the fair. Sunday, August 11, was the 4th day of the state fair, which had 115,048 attendees. This breaks the previous "day 4" record of 114,937.

The total through the first 4 days of the fair was 444,456, which is also 23,000 ahead of the pace set last year.

The biggest total attendance for the Iowa State Fair is 1,170,375 people and this record was set in 2019. For this year's fair to break the 2019 record, there will need to be an average of 106,398 people per day, according to KCCI. As of yesterday (August 12), the fair is averaging 111,114 attendees.

Could this be the most attended Iowa State Fair of all time? We will find out after Sunday, August 18th.