Attendance Down But Fair Still Successful, Organizers Say

The number of people attending this year’s county fair fell to its lowest level in a decade but organizers Tuesday still hailed the event as a huge success.

More than 276,000 people turned out for the 69th annual Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival, which began Feb. 12 and ended Sunday, said Kimberly Douglas, spokeswoman for the county Economic Development Agency, which puts on the event.

That’s well below the 294,000 who attended in 2014, and the lowest number since 259,000 visitors in 2005.

Organizers blamed part of the drop-off on the many local events taking place at the same time as the fair, including Modernism Week, the Frank Sinatra charity golf tournament and others.

“There’s so much happening in the desert,” Douglas said. “There are a lot of options out there.”

Still, while fair officials are finalizing their tally of revenue numbers, it’s clear that profits are up, Douglas said.

That, combined with the fact that the weather was beautiful and the event was free of any major safety or other problems, was cause for celebration.

“We still made money,” Douglas said. “Our revenue was increased and that makes us happy.”

– City News Service.