98th Delaware State Fair celebrates record crowds

Another July tradition has closed the books as the 98th Annual Delaware State Fair came to a roaring finish. The fair celebrated summer traditions throughout all 10 fun-filled days with a mix of summer heat, intense rain and a few cool, fall-like nights.

The 2017 Delaware State Fair enjoyed strong attendance, with 287,632 fairgoers visiting the fairgrounds in Harrington. Overall attendance saw a 10 percent increase of rebound over last year's attendance numbers. With close to 300,000 visitors attending the 2017 Delaware State Fair, organizers pronounced the 98th annual Delaware State Fair a huge success.

Compared to last year, with excessive heat warnings for almost the entire run, the 2017 fair experienced a healthy dose of more fair-friendly weather. Fair General Manager Bill DiMondi said the fair was blessed with a nice return to cooler temperatures and only one day was completely rained out. “The combination of cooler temps, a mix of very strong entertainment offerings, first-class livestock and competitive exhibits, and a supportive fair community helped boost the attendance compared to last year," he said.

"We were prepared for the heat on the front end of the fair," DiMondi said, "and we certainly got hit with it. Fortunately for everyone including our patrons, vendors, exhibitors and the livestock being shown at the fair, the weather moderated mid-fair and despite experiencing a full day and night of rain July 28, we rebounded nicely from the heat and finished exceptionally strong July 29 with a sold-out Brantley Gilbert concert."

Assistant General Manager and Marketing Director Danny Aguilar pointed out the continued success of the second year of the VIP Concert Package that offered preferred seating in the first few rows or a place in the pit coupled with VIP parking adjacent to the front gate, a voucher good for food and beverages in the Roost Beer and Wine Court along with access to a private raised concert viewing area, private bars and air-conditioned restrooms. Aguilar noted that three shows' VIP packages were completely sold out several months before fair, and he is already hard at work identifying additional amenities to include in next year's VIP concert packages.

Livestock, 4-H, FFA and other forms of competitive exhibits dominated the fairgrounds once again. The fair received and processed over 41,000 entries this year coming from 4,328 exhibitors. Over 3,100 goats, pigs, sheep, horses, ponies, rabbits, poultry, two giraffes (Millman and Twiggs) and a small caravan of 12 camels called the fairgrounds home for the last 10 days of July. DiMondi said, "With last Friday's near-record 24-hour rainfall amount coupled with the huge animal population, we almost had our own version of Noah's Ark going on here in Harrington."

The Junior Livestock Auction, which represents the culmination of a junior exhibitor's full year of hard work and dedication, completes an important early agribusiness education program for many livestock exhibitors. This year, the auction experienced another strong showing as 138 animals were sold for just under $200,000 that was distributed to junior exhibitors who owned the top-placing junior market animals.

The dates for the 99th annual Delaware State Fair in 2018 are Thursday, July 19 to Saturday, July 28.

For further information contact Aguilar at 302-398-5903 or danny@thestatefair.net.