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2016 Illinois State Fair attendance down; weather cited

Posted September 18, 2016 7:00 am

The Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Officials say attendance at the 2016 Illinois State Fair fell by around 13 percent compared to attendance numbers last year.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/2cu5Pka) cites officials as blaming flooding in the area, the heat and a power outage for the decline in attendance for the 11-day event in August. Total attendance from Aug. 11 to Aug. 21 was over 357,000. It was more than 411,000 last year.

At the same time, fair officials say they're happy that revenue figures were similar to previous years.

A report on the state fair numbers indicates that around 7.75 inches of rain fell during the fair. That included 5.59 inches on Aug. 12 alone.

Fair manager Kevin Gordon says staff "battled obstacles at every turn," including triple-digit heat indices.

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Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com

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