2018 Ohio State Fair comes to a close with more than 908,000 visitors

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 2018 Ohio State Fair concluded its 12-day run on Sunday, Aug. 5 with an estimated 908,306 attendees entering the gates between July 25 and August 5. This marks a significant increase of 13 percent more visitors than 2017.

“Our attendance is always very weather-dependent,” explained General Manager Virgil Strickler. “We usually see a slight dip in our attendance with rough weather, and the rain on Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week was no exception. Despite that, an impressive crowd of happy fairgoers turned out to experience our Fair’s entertainment, livestock shows, education and activities.”

The annual Ohio State Fair, held at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, celebrates agriculture – the state’s largest industry – and is well-known across the country for traditions including the famed butter cow and calf, it’s unique eight-acre Natural Resources Park, the award-winning Ag is Cool agricultural education program, and one of the largest youth livestock shows in the nation.

“The Ohio State Fair is the buckeye state’s great end-of-summer celebration, and we thank the hundreds of thousands of devoted fairgoers who visited this year,” said Strickler. “I’m already counting down the days until we open the gates in 2019!”