State Fair crowds smaller, but still enjoying themselves

Friday night at the North Carolina State Fair is an experience all North Carolinians can savor, especially after a couple of years.

Posted 2:23 a.m. Oct 16, 2021 — Updated 2:25 a.m. Oct 16, 2021

Julian Grace

, WRAL anchor/reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — Friday night at the North Carolina State Fair is an experience all North Carolinians can savor, especially after a last year's cancellation.

On Thursday, the fair got off to a slow start attendance-wise, attracting only 27,209 people. It was the lowest first-day attendance figure since 1994, when the fair's opening day was typically on Friday.

Although official numbers are not in yet, Friday's crowd appeared to be less than expected again on a pleasant mid-October night with temperatures in the 70s. Friday night is generally one of the busier times at the fair. Traffic was lighter than most years getting in and out of the state fairgrounds in Raleigh.

Vendors and fairgoers were excited to be out on the midway again. As a nice surprise, there was plenty of room for people to mill around without being on top of each other.

“It feels great to be back out here of course we are a little scared skeptical, but it is great to be back out here,” said Marla Matthew.

Most people we spoke with were enjoying themselves like they would any other year. Some were just glad the fair returned after a hiatus in 2020 because of COVID.

"It feels great and there's lots of good events, lot of good things to look at," said Ryan Barber.

Vendors said foot traffic appeared to be slower, but hope attendance increases over the weekend.

Suggest A Correction