The Most, Least Attended Minnesota State Fairs This Century

The Minnesota State Fair has been a tradition for many years, with its roots traced all the way back to an agricultural fair in 1854, before Minnesota was even a state.

In 1855, a territory fair was held in Minneapolis, moved to St. Paul in 1857. After Minnesota became a state in May of 1858, there was no funding for a state fair that year, but Minnesota's first state fair was held in 1859.

After that first fair, there has been an event every year since 1859 except for 6 years somewhere in Minnesota. Those exceptions include:

1861: Civil War
1862: Civil War
1893: World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago
1945: World War II
1946: Polio epidemic
2020: COVID-19 pandemic

Early Minnesota State Fair moved around from the Twin Cities to Rochester, Winona, Owatonna, and Red Wing until settling at the current fairgrounds in 1885.

The early fairs were much shorter, becoming a 6-day event in 1885, expanding to 8 days in 1919, to 10 days in 1939, the 11 days in 1972 before becoming the current 12-day length in 1975.

Since 1975's 12-day format, attendance numbers have been no less than 1.2 million visitors, reaching as high as more than 2.1 million. The overall trajectory has been upward since 1975, falling no lower than 1.6 million since the year 2000 except for one exception.

In 2021, the first year after the COVID-19 pandemic cancelation, attendance numbers were more than 330,000 people fewer than any other year since 2000.

The last time that the fair saw an attendance number lower than the 2021 total attendance of 1,301,584 was in 1977, when 1,299,017 people attended. The only year with lower attendance since adopting the 12-day format was 1976, when 1,266,328 people attended.

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Aside from the historic 2021 outlier, the 21st Century has seen more than 1.6 million each year. Here's how each of those years from 2000 onward rank from least to most attended this century:

Ranking The Most Attended Minnesota State Fairs This Century

How does each year's Minnesota State Fair attendance rank among the most-attended since 2000? Here's how attendance numbers compare over the last two-plus decades at the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

NOTE: There are no 2020 Minnesota State Fair numbers because that year's event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper

Source: What Are The Most + Least Attended Minnesota State Fairs Of This Century?

Filed Under: Minnesota State Fair, State Fair, Twin Cities

Categories: Lifestyle