Here’s How Many People Went To Opening Day At The 2023 Minnesota State Fair

The Minnesota State Fair is officially here, which means lots of foods on a stick and fun beverages all across your social media feed or in your belly. The fair kicked off on Thursday (August 24th) and it's no surprise to know many Minnesotans showed up for opening day of the annual tradition.

Last year, opening day at the Minnesota State Fair was massive! Not only was attendance nearly double that of the previous year, but it was close to the all-time opening day attendance record with 121,478 attending the first day. That's a lot of people.

RELATED: The 2023 Minnesota State Fair Free Entertainment Lineup

As for opening day this year, things didn't kick off with quite a bang! According to the Minnesota State Fair's website, about 106,327 went to the first day of the fair. This is down significantly from the year before.

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If you were keeping up with the weather forecast last week, you probably know that the Twin Cities was incredibly hot, with temperatures in the 80s and 90s all week long. Factoring in the heat index, some spots felt like triple digits. Temperatures weren't expected to cool down until the weekend so that could explain the drop in attendance.

As temperatures cooled off into the weekend, attendance went up! On Friday (August 25th), attendance hit an all-time high for that day, with 164,741 people attending the fair. The following day, tens of thousands more attended, with 212,850 people eating all the foods and riding all the rides.

RELATED: Here's How Many People Attended The 2022 Minnesota State Fair

We will have to see how the rest of the Minnesota State Fair shakes out! Either way, it is a historic year for the fair as the first woman was named general manager back in February. The fair also landed on a national list of the 100 best summer events for families. With an exciting roster of delicious and unique foods, this is no surprise.

The fair runs through September 4th.