The Iowa State Fair motto is “Nothing Compares,” which is fine providing the comparison is not with the Minnesota State Fair.
The Just-South-of-Great Iowa Get-Together revealed it smashed its daily attendance record as it welcomed 128,732 people through the gates at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines on Saturday.
Don’t get us wrong, Iowa State Fair is undoubtedly one of the great state fairs in the country and 128,732 is an excellent day’s attendance for any state fair not named Minnesota.
It averages around 100,000 visitors a day, which is about the same as the much-vaunted Texas State Fair despite the population of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area being twice that of the entire state of Iowa (6.5M v. 3.2M).
Still, if you look at the stats, 128,732 wouldn’t beat the Minnesota State Fair attendance record on ANY of its 12 days. The closest it gets is to the record 133,326 who attended Opening Day (always a Thursday – always the lowest attended day) in 2019.
Minnesota State Fair