Western Idaho Fair on track to have 'biggest carnival year of all-time'
The Western Idaho Fair is on track to have its "biggest carnival year of all-time," according to a media consultant.
The full carnival numbers will not be available until the fair is finished, but it's on its way to record numbers.
People have enjoyed the rides. Some crowd favorites include the Inversion, the funhouse from Stranger Things, and the Turbo Force.
The fair had the highest attended concert of all-time on Friday (Aug. 23) with REO Speedwagon.
14,400 people attended the concert with well over 30,000 people attending the fair that day as well. Our concert line-up had 39,600 people throughout the 4 days of shows.
This was the concert line up:
- Tuesday, Aug. 20: 3 Doors Down – 8,600
- Wednesday, Aug. 21: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – 6,400
- Thursday, Aug. 22: Dustin Lynch – 10,200
- Friday, Aug. 23: REO Speedwagon – 14,400
The fair saw new exhibits and entertainers this year.
"Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Lots of people attended our free grandstand shows, they saw the animals in our petting zoo, they took in our free grounds acts like Nerveless Nocks and Kachunga Alligators," the consultant said. "We had many spectators for the 4th annual Swing Dance Competition."
Events included two naming ceremonies for our Trackside Arena, now called Legg Arena, after Evelyn and Hurley Legg. The Legg’s have long standing ties to Western Idaho Fair. Evelyn was the Premium Office Manager for 26 years and her husband Hurley was a long-standing draft horse showman.
The Livestock Showring was named after Frank Farnum, a long-standing Livestock Director for Western Idaho Fair (over 20 years). Our Showing is now called the Farnum Showing.
It was also Navy week. The fair had Navy displays, Navy recruiters, Navy Ceremonial Guard performances, Navy Northwest Funk Band performances and a performance by the Navy Northwest Popular Band.
It had over 500 4-H and FFA youth participate in Western Idaho Fair with over 1,500 exhibits/animals, and about 2,300 open class exhibitors participate in Western Idaho Fair with nearly 11,000 exhibits/animals.
Extra Info: Thousands of people work the fair; the Western Idaho Fair hires over 500 people alone. It takes a village to make this little city function for the 10 days of fair.
