2022 State Fair attendance up 41%, 5th highest ever

The 2022 Great Minnesota Get-Together is officially in the books, and while it didn’t reach 2019’s record-setting attendance level, it definitely bounced back in a big way.

Total attendance numbers for the Minnesota State Fair were released Tuesday, coming in at 1,842,222 visitors, a 41.5% increase from 2021. The record total attendance for the fair is 2,126,551 visitors, set in 2019.

Additionally, no individual days set an attendance record during this year’s fair, although the first Friday was within 4,000 of 2019’s record and the final Saturday and Sunday each easily surpassed 200,000 visitors.

Fair officials say that this year’s totals make it the fifth best-attended fair ever.

Complete Coverage of the Minnesota State Fair

“Our thanks to everyone who visited the State Fair this year,” the fair’s General Manager Jerry Hammer said. “It was clear from the first moments on opening day that people were more than ready to return home to their State Fair. ‘We really need this’ is what we heard from many very happy people.”

“Thanks also to the tens of thousands of people who worked so very hard to make State Fair magic,” Hammer added. “State Fair staff, vendors, exhibitors, agriculturists, youth groups, volunteers and especially our many partners who stepped up to provide public safety and security for the fair.”

Other highlights of the 2022 fair include:

• Kevin Doran & 5 at the Fair
• Rachel Rynda, of Montgomery, being crowned the 69th Princess Kay of the Milky Way
• The CHS Miracle of Birth Center welcomed 138 newborn animals, including 104 piglets, 10 calves, 21 lambs and three kids (goats)
• The Purple Ribbon Auction on Aug. 27 set 17 new record prices and raised more than $1 million for the 115 4-H members who participated,
• More than 32,000 agricultural and creative competition entries

Next year’s state fair is scheduled to run from Aug. 24 through Sept. 4.

See more highlights of the 2022 fair at KSTP.com.