WASHINGTON CO. FAIR ATTENDANCE & SALE TOTALS UP, EARLY NUMBERS SHOW

  

Another Washington County Fair has come and gone.

Early data from the Washington County Fair Association says overall attendance and combined sale totals at this year’s event are up from last year.   

Fair President Michael Bentke says the 156^th edition of the oldest county fair in Texas is one that will not soon be forgotten.

According to Bentke, the rough sum of Friday’s junior livestock auction and Saturday’s commercial steer, commercial heifer, colt and country creations auctions comes out to just over $3.3 million without add-ons.  The 2023 total was around $2.9 million, with Bentke pointing to the junior livestock auction and the heifer sale as most of that $400,000 increase.

Moving into attendance numbers, Bentke says that while season pass sales saw a decline from last year, at 6,426 tickets compared to 10,840, overall turnout was still higher at this fair.  

The total between all four paid days at the fair was 52,934 guests, up from 47,253 a year ago.  Those numbers include both season passes and day passes purchased at the gate, but they do not count the opening weekend and Tuesday of the fair, as those days have free entry.  

Daily attendance, per Bentke, was calculated at 11,438 for Wednesday, 9,882 for Thursday, 14,508 for Friday and 17,106 for Saturday. 

Bentke says fair officials have not had the chance yet to look into the details of how attendance grew despite a reduction in season passes, but he believes the entertainment played a major role.  He says over 6,000 day passes were sold after 6 p.m. for Saturday night alone.

Bentke is grateful for the continued generosity from the public, whether it be those buying tickets, bidding in the auctions or helping organize the event itself. 

Bentke says organizers will take some time to rest and absorb everything from this year’s fair before beginning to make plans for the 2025 fair.

KWHI and KTEX-106 thank everyone who stopped by the fair booth and spun the Wagon Wheel of Prizes.  Approximately $1,100 was raised and will benefit Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, which was destroyed in a fire in July.