More than 1.425 million people attended this year's San Diego County Fair over the course of its 24-day run, fair officials announced today.
This year's total fair attendance of an 1,425,200 people makes 2013 the second most attended fair ever, according to event officials. The record was set last year at just below 1.52 million people.
The single busiest day this year was Thursday, the last day of the fair, with 93,754 people flocking to the Del Mar Fairgrounds to celebrate the Fourth of July.
"We want to thank everyone in San Diego for all their support and for coming to the 2013 San Diego County Fair because this is their fair,'' said Tim Fennell, CEO and General Manager of the Del Mar Fairgrounds. "We were proud to present a venue that provided a great value for our guests. The fair is really about the people and teamwork that run this event year-after-year.''
The fair opened on June 8 and was closed only three days, June 10, 17 and 24.
Food vendors sold a massive amount of unusual treats, including about 50,000 pieces of chocolate covered bacon, more than 15,000 Krispy Kreme sloppy joe's and 17,000 bacon-wrapped pickles.
Students from 4-H and Future Farmers of America clubs from around the county were also hard at work during the fair, auctioning off 307 livestock animals and raising $408,000.
Several fair-goers left items behind. Fair officials said well over 100 cellphones, nearly 100 sets of keys and about 200 wallets or purses have been found.
More information on the items is posted at www.sdfair.com/lost.
