It is the opening weekend of the Iowa State Fair at the Fairgrounds down in Des Moines and despite some early weather concerns on Thursday, the event as certainly started as a Fair Sweet Fair as initial attendance for the opening day skyrocketed to over 95,500, nearly 5,000 more than the opening day last year. The 2024 total attendance set a new Iowa State Fair record with nearly 1.2 million attendees, 12,000 more than the 2nd highest total which was in 2023. The daily record for opening Thursday was set back in 2008 with 101,262 people. As for opening grandstand act Forrest Frank, he brought in a whopping 15,800 people, selling out the opening night of grandstand action. The State Fair this year runs through August 17th. Be sure to stop in and take in all that the fair has to offer, from agriculture to food, to the ever-famous butter cow.
David Braga – KFJB News Reporter