GRAND ISLAND, Neb. – The Nebraska State Fair’s 2017 attendance reached 379,108, 4.98% more than last year, or more than 18,000 additional fairgoers.  
The number is the highest since the State Fair moved to Grand Island in 2010 and even exceeds the 2009 figure in Lincoln, when folks said goodbye to the old fairgrounds.
 “This number is just 10,000 folks shy of the all time high of 389,171 set in 1997,” State Fair executive director Joseph McDermott said. “This is as much a positive endorsement as you’ll find.  

“We knew we were running steady in attendance, but it’s always great to get the final figures and to know we chalked up some very high numbers,” he said. “This brings our eight-year total to 2,415,137.”
State Fair Board chair Chris Kircher said, “This exemplifies what a great job the State Fair staff does in preparing, planning and executing Nebraska’s largest entertainment event each year. With this one under our belts, we can get started planning for the
2018 event.
“One of the things will be working to resolve are the issues that concertgoers experienced this year,” he said, “The long lines, security and line of sight issues will be addressed and corrected for 2018. We always work off the input from fairgoers to improve what we do from year to year.”
McDermott added: “Another number that we’re very proud of is that 88% of our fairgoers are likely or very likely to recommend the Nebraska State Fair to others.  This is our true indicator of the overall state fair experience.  It’s what we look at for overall customer satisfaction – and judging by the number – we’re still delighting fairgoers from across the state.”
Dates for the 2018 Nebraska State Fair will be Aug. 24 through Sept. 3.