This, however, means that about 8% fewer people came each day, leading to smaller crowds and shorter lines, which was the plan from the outset, according to fair spokeswoman Robin Wachner.
During prior years’ expansions, most recently in 1992 and 2003, total attendance stayed static or decreased the year of the change and then grew back up again to its previous level.
“Now we expect to start growing that attendance again,” Beazley said.
About 250,000 people came to see the fair’s main attraction: a 10-minute, 3-D movie that the fair produced with musical comedian Weird Al Yankovic. The fair spent about $2.5 million on the exhibit, which it didn’t expect to recover this year in added attendance, but hoped to make up in the future by renting the movie out to other fairs around the country.
Officials from fairs in Texas and South Carolina came to see it while it was on display in Orange County, and several more plan to see it at its next stop in Washington, Beazley said.
So far, no others have made formal commitments, but usually those commitments aren’t made until budget time in the fall, Beazley said.
Because of the novelty of the exhibit and management’s desire to see it picked up by other fairs, the fair kept a close eye on how “Al’s Brain” was received. Audience members entering and leaving the auditorium were surveyed on how they liked the show, whether they learned anything, and whether they would have paid money to see it.
One statistic that Beazley puts some stake in: Of 133 people surveyed, more than 60% said the exhibit had some influence on their decision to go to the fair and pay the $10 entry fee.
By The Numbers
1,072,018
Total fair attendance this year over 23 days
1,062,673
Total fair attendance last year over 21 days
8%
Decrease in daily attendance
250,000
Number of people who saw Weird Al’s Brain exhibit
