SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — State officials are celebrating attendance at this year’s Illinois State Fair after it was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state Department of Agriculture reported Tuesday that the Springfield-based festival in August attracted 472,390. Since 2014, when the agency started formally tracking attendance, that’s second only to the 508,900 who attended in 2019.
Given the turnstile count in 2019, State Fair Manager Kevin Gordon said “the bar was set pretty high” for attendance after a year’s layoff. He said this year’s attendance was “a great accomplishment.”
