Attendance this year has slumped at the N.C. State Fair. Poor economy and cold weather are cited as key factors.
RALEIGH At noon Wednesday, only five people were riding the Ferris wheel. You could have Rollerbladed down the middle of the midway.
Not a soul lined up to whack a mole, and the vendor selling tickets to see the world’s smallest woman was dozing in his chair.
It doesn’t take the seasoned eye of a craft judge to determine that things are a mite slow at the N.C. State Fair this year.
N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler cites cold weather as the culprit. Vendors and fairgoers put the blame squarely on a slumping economy. Longtime vendors say business is down this year between 20 percent and 50 percent. And visitors arrive with smaller wads of bills.
“I brought $50, and we usually spend a couple hundred,” said Raquel Martin, a Raleigh mother of three who was at the fairgrounds Wednesday. “My teenagers both have jobs, so they’re spending their own money.”
Through Tuesday, 376,564 people had passed through the fair’s gates so far this year. That’s almost 10,000 fewer than the same period last year – and this year’s figure includes an extra half day the fair was open last Thursday. (Wednesday’s figures weren’t available at press time.)
At the fair’s outset Thursday, Troxler aimed for 1 million visitors this year – a goal that appears out of reach.
The fair did set a record for Tuesday attendance this year with 71,199. And organizers are hoping for a surge today, when admission is free for those who donate four cans of food to fight hunger.