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MPR News Staff

State Fair attendance on record pace through first three days

Crowds pack the streets and the sky ride on the first day of the Fair.
Crowds pack the streets and the sky ride on the first day of the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minn. on Thursday, August 23, 2018.
Evan Frost | MPR News

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The Minnesota State Fair has set two daily attendance records in the first three days of this year's 12-day run.

Fair officials on Sunday annnounced that Saturday's attendance was 222,194 — more than 20,000 above the previous first-Saturday record of 202,126, set in 1998.

Saturday's events at the fair included The Current's "Music on a Stick" concert at the Grandstand, headlined by Minnesota bluegrass band Trampled By Turtles.

The fair also set a daily record on Thursday — the fair's opening day — when 122,695 people passed through the gates. Friday saw a slip in attendance thanks to rainy conditions.

Overall, through the first three days of the fair, 452,948 people had attended the fair. That's more than 50,000 ahead of the first three days in 2017, when the fair set its overall attendance record of just short of 2 million people (1,997,320).

There's a chance for rain in the Twin Cities on Sunday night, and again on Monday and Tuesday.