Rain Impacts Dodge County Fair Attendance

(Beaver Dam) The Dodge County Fair Association has a new name for the classic country act hired to play Thursday night. Secretary Sharon Keil  says they now call them the “Soak Ridge Boys.” Last year, the Oak Ridge Boys played in the rain to a diminished crowd. Hoping to make up for it, the came back again this year only to be cancelled at the last minute due to lightning. Keil says attendance was down but was bolstered by the Meat Animal Auction.

For the second year, the fair board scaled back the nights of music from four grandstand acts to three and included the Badger State Tractor Pull. Last year’s tractor pull was cancelled because of lightning, but Keil says it went off without a hitch this year, and they plan to bring them back next year as well.

Keil says since the year 2000, typical attendance is in the 45-thousand-to-50-thousand range with a low turnout of 39-thousand and a record-setting high of 59-thousand. On Wednesday, there were 6500 people while Thursday saw 6300. Friday night attendance was at 9200 and Saturday night drew 11-thousand-500. Sunday’s attendance topped 10-thousand bringing the five-day total to 43,600 people. Last year there were 45,200 people through the gates.