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NY State Fair attendance up, but some vendors say business is down

Ellen Abbott
/
WRVO News
The remodeled New York State Fair

If attendance is any indication, New York’s $50 million investment into the state fairgrounds is an early success. According to New York State Fair officials, the fair is substantially ahead of last year's attendance numbers, with the final weekend coming up, which generally has the largest crowds of the 12-day exposition. Fair officials believe there are a couple of reasons why.

First off, Acting Fair Director Troy Waffner says there have been the curiosity seekers, who wanted to see how $50 million changes a more than century-old fairgrounds.

But beyond that, Waffner believes a big I Love New York advertising campaign focusing on the fair has brought more visitors from outside central New York.

"We’ve actually seen more cars coming from the west to the point they’re causing back-ups and traffic coming from the west to the east, than we’ve ever seen. We’ve put a lot of advertising effort in those markets of Rochester and beyond,” said Waffner.

Waffner also senses that more people are taking multiple trips to the fair, with enticements like “three dollar Thursday” that make it more appealing for someone to just come to the fair for and evening or dinner.

While Waffner says most fairgoers like the more wide open spaces created by the renovation and opening up of the midway area, the wider boulevards have some vendors complaining that business is down. Waffner says there was no way to predict where foot traffic would flow.

"Going into this we were clear with all the vendors, you know, we don’t know what the foot traffic is going to be until the first day of the fair, the second day of the fair. And after this, we’ve already started sitting down with vendors trying to figure to plan the layout for next year.”

Waffner says the fair has added more picnic tables in some of the more isolated areas, and will consider adding some center row tables to the boulevards to make the wider walkways more appealing next year. The last day of the fair is Monday.

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.