Ventura County Fair bucks statewide trend, sets attendance record
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: August 20, 2008
Bucking a statewide trend, the 133rd Annual Ventura County Fair broke records for attendance according to Board Director Ginger Gherardi, who noted that, overall, “It was a record breaking fair.”
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
Bucking a statewide trend, the 133rd Annual Ventura County Fair broke records for attendance according to Board Director Ginger Gherardi, who noted that, overall, “It was a record breaking fair.” The 12-day fair held at Seaside Park overlooking the Pacific Ocean drew 321,338 turnstile admissions, “Not quite 4 percent over last year’s” paid attendance, said Gherardi. Last year’s fair attendance was 309,943.
The carnival also set a new record, with $1.843 million in revenue from ticket sales, up 2.56 percent from the 2007 fair. “The trend statewide has been to be down and we’ve been bucking the trend.”
Gherardi believes that the family atmosphere of fun as well as the fair’s proximity added to the record attendance. Spiraling gas prices that have been pinching family budgets didn’t deter fair attendance, as she said attending the event “is a good vacation for people who didn’t have to drive far” for the fair experience.
The only dip seen in fair revenues was the annual Fair Auction, where 4-H Clubs and Future Farmers of America members sold their livestock and other animals shown at the fair. “The auction was off a little, about $8,000, but,” said Gherardi, “we had less animals” competing.
Overall, the 133rd Annual Ventura County Fair offered “good entertainment value for people and they enjoyed themselves.... It was a great fair,” Gherardi noted.
It was the second year in a row that the fair set an attendance record. The largest single-day turnout at the fair was August 6, when singer-actress Raven Symoné performed. All shows and entertainment at the fair - this year ranging from The Beach Boys to the rodeo - were included in the fair’s admission price.
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