DuPage fair officials say attendance took significant jump
It was a good year at the DuPage County Fair, both for organizers of the five-day festival that ended Sunday in Wheaton and the people who attended it.
Officials on Monday said it will take a couple days to get final numbers, but they’re expecting about a 30 percent spike in attendance, thanks in part to a cooperative Mother Nature who kept rain and extreme heat at bay throughout most of the event.
“It was perfect fair weather,” said Jim McGuire, president of the DuPage County Fair Association. “It was probably one of our best fair years. The past several years, we had some difficult weather to deal with.”
Temperatures did approach 100 degrees on opening day Wednesday, but McGuire said it didn’t stop people from coming out.
“Even then we had great numbers,” he said. “I guess a lot of people were used to the heat with the hot summer we’ve had.”
Violent storms in previous weeks damaged the fairgrounds and made preparations stressful for organizers, but it was nothing they couldn’t handle.
“A lot more energy went into making sure we were up and running for Wednesday, but we got there,” McGuire said.
Fair officials saw a jump in carnival and AgVentureland attendance after moving the two closer together.
“We pulled a lot of people up into the AgVentureland area because of moving the carnival closer. The families seemed to be flocking to that area,” McGuire said. “We want to be able to tell the story of agriculture and have fun with that.”
The most popular event remained Sunday’s demolition derby, officials said. A new garden tractor category helped.
“They added a little bit of a fun twist to it,” he said. “It was a great show with a lot of people there.”
The most successful charitable event was one not even spearheaded by the fair association, McGuire said. An Illinois State University student ran a St. Baldrick’s Foundation event on Sunday, where attendees were able to have their heads shaved and donate to the organization that raises funds for childhood cancer research.
More than 22 people, including McGuire and several other fair board members, got their heads shaved and raised more than $10,000.
The fair’s main-stage musical acts were country artist Kip Moore on Wednesday and Festival de Musica on Thursday. McGuire said attendance at the concerts is never as high as organizers hope, and they are always looking for fresh and exciting entertainment to take the stage.
“We always wish we had more people,” McGuire said. “Those are two areas I really would’ve liked to see higher numbers in.”
Organizers can contemplate how to accomplish that now that the yearlong process of planning next year’s celebrations begins.
“We are always thinking of how we could do things better,” McGuire said. “We’re constantly tweaking and improving who we are and what we do to make the best experience for our guests.”