Dodge County Fair Attendance

8/22/17 – The numbers have been crunched and attendance at the Dodge County Fair this year was about the same as last year. Fair Association Secretary Sharon Keil says the way the week started out she never thought they would end with the numbers that they did. She says they were about 500 people down from last year which is a surprise given the weather. Wednesday and Thursday were really down but she says they came back and turned it around with the final three days. Last year there were 45,700 people through the gates of the fairgrounds outside Beaver Dam, compared to 45,200 this year. Keil says since the year 2000, typical attendance is in the upper-40-thousand-to-lower-50-thousand range with a low turnout of 39-thousand and a record-setting high of 59-thousand. She says it was a real comfortable fair without any incidents or disasters, one of the more smooth-running fairs they have had in a while which the whole fair board is real happy with. The Fair Board tried something new this year, scaling back the nights of music from four grandstand acts to three and kicking off the five-day event with the Badger State Tractor Pull. Because of rains on Wednesday, the tractor pull was cancelled but Keil says they will try the tractor pull again next year because it really did not happen. “So we’ve got one night of entertainment already lined-up for next year,” Keil says adding that she anticipates having two nights of country music and a rock night again next year.