This year’s Great New York State Fair drew in the largest crowd in its 175-year history, breaking three daily attendance records over the 12 days it was held.

By Monday, a record breaking 1,096,524 visitors attended this year’s fair, the largest amount since 2001, which had 1,011,248 visitors, according to a press release from the office of New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo presented record-setting visitor number 1,011,249 — a member of a family of four from Onondaga County — with a gift bag containing four lifetime passes to the fair, two tickets to a Lakeview Amphitheater 2017 concert of their choice and food vouchers, among other things.

“The Great New York State Fair is a great New York tradition that reached an exciting new milestone in its storied history with this year’s new attendance record,” Cuomo said in the release. “We set a goal for the Fair — one million people to come and experience the unprecedented transformation, and we not only met it, but soared past it.”

Cuomo marked the record alongside state and local officials by breaking a block of ice shaped in the number of the previous record during a celebration in the Fair’s Empire Room. The state and local officials had been working over the past several years securing capital that would help grow the fairgrounds.

The fair generates about $100 million for the local economy every year, and employs more than 2,800 people — making it one of central New York’s most important economic assets.

“Central New York is in a better, brighter economic position because of Governor Cuomo’s revitalization of the Fairgrounds,” Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney said in the release. “The proof is in the record numbers of people who came to enjoy the new Fair, and there will be more proof as new events come to the Fairgrounds and existing ones are able to grow.”

Another factor which helped drive this year’s record-setting attendance was the $50 million put toward revitalizing the fairgrounds, which enhanced the experience of guest.

Among the upgrades were a new main gate, an increase in open spaces, paths for walking the grounds, more seating in shaded areas and improvements to underground infrastructure. The enhancements laid the ground for the fairgrounds to become a more versatile space during the year.

Published on September 5, 2016 at 11:45 pm

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