State Fair Numbers Up... and Posted Much Faster

Good news travels fast... especially when state officials want it to. South Dakota State Fair ("We're Still the One!") Manager Susan Hayward is trumpeting a 13.5% increase in attendance at this year's event, from 133,000 in 2006 to 151,000 this time around [AP, "State Fair Reports Larger Attendance," KELOLand.com, 2007.09.06].

The Madville Times is pleased for anyone who can put on a successful show and generate tax revenue and family fun in South Dakota. However, we note with amusement how this year it took just three days for fair personnel to release attendance figures to the press, whereas last year they spent nearly four weeks counting heads and coordinating their spin. Susan Hayward herself declared last year, "The No. 1 reason the attendance figures will not be released is because they are no indication of how well the fair is doing.... [S]ometimes the press relies heavily on the attendance figures as a measuring stick on how the fair is doing." (She said it in the Huron Plainsman, which appears to have deleted the original page from their archives -- darn!) We are pleased that Hayward and the State Fair board have acknowledged the very obvious: attendance numbers are an important indication of the success of an event.

We shall now wait with bated breath for the promised financial figures to see if the state's continuing underwriting of the fair ($750,000 subsidy this year, basically a buck per South Dakotan) paid off.

Update: Read the glowing official press release: "South Dakota State Fair a Huge Success!" -- yes, the exclamation point is in the original. There weren't just more people, but 26% more cattle, 35% more rabbits, and 52% more pigs! Says Hayward, "It is important for a number of reasons to track attendance and exhibits at the fair, but the real measure of success for me was the thousands of families who attended either to exhibit, camp, wander through the buildings, or watch the shows. All those smiling faces are what the fair is really about.”

Just so we're clear, Hayward is saying attendance figures are a valid measuring stick.