The 2024 Iowa State Fair was the biggest in the fair's 170-year history. So, what will the encore look like?

According to fair officials, total attendance of last year's event was 1,182,682 . That's 12,307 more than the previous record of 1,170,375 in 2019 and 48,724 more than 2023 (1,133,958), which is the second-biggest.

Day 1 of the 2025 fair is off to a good start despite the stormy opening morning. Fair officials say 95,671 people went through the gates Thursday, nearly 5,000 more than last year's opener. That's well short of the all-time Opening Day record of 101,262 set in 2008.

We'll be tracking daily attendance figures in this story throughout the fair, which opened Thursday and runs 11 days through Sunday, Aug. 17.

Follow along with us!

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