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DOUGLAS COUNTY — The attendance at the 2022 Douglas County Fair is likely to be the second highest in the last 10 years.
As of Monday, Aug. 22, the preliminary numbers indicate that about 50,400 people enjoyed the four-day event, which was held Aug. 17 through Aug. 20 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Alexandria, according to Molly Maudal, fair board member and communications supervisor.
Although the four-day forecast looked like it might make a huge impact on attendance, the only day that was really impacted was Thursday, Aug. 18.
According to Accuweather, Wednesday’s high reached 83 degrees, while Thursday, Friday and Saturday were a little cooler with 75, 76, 78 degrees respectively.
Maudal said the circus was canceled on Thursday because of rain, but that didn’t stop people from still having fun at the fair. She said the people who stayed were troopers and that not a lot of people flooded the gates to get out during the rain.
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Brett Grinager, fair board member and entertainment supervisor, said the Wednesday performance of the circus, which was new to the fair this year, was great.
“There were three shows that were really full,” he said.
Maudal said Saturday was beautiful as the temperatures were a little cooler. She said there was a steady flow of people, which was a great way to wrap up the four-day event.
Grinager noted that the Demo Derby on Friday, which is a Viking Speedway event that takes place during the fair, was sold out and that there were an estimated 2,500 people who attended.
“Friday was a big day,” said Grinager. “We had cars backed up both ways trying to get in and park. That’s a good thing.”
Maudal said board members quickly jumped in to help out in the parking lot when the large influx of people were trying to get in.
“The teamwork of the board was just incredible,” she said.
Maudal also touched on the economic impact of the fair to the Douglas County community. From gas, food and lodging to feed and supplies for livestock, Maudal said it adds up to “a lot of dollars.”
The fair board has looked at economic studies of other fairs that are similar in size to Douglas County and Maudal said it would be very realistic to say that the economic impact of the Douglas County Fair is probably at about $2.5 million.
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All in all, Maudal said the 2022 Douglas County Fair was a great one. She gave a shout out to all the performers, the 130 vendors, 4-H kids, exhibitors, sponsors and anyone and everyone else who had a hand in making the fair such a great event for this community.
“So many people, especially our sponsors, are vital to making this fair such a success,” Maudal said. “Without all of them, we wouldn’t have a fair.”
There will be more on the fair, including lots of pictures and 4-H results in a special Douglas County Fair souvenir publication that will be inserted in the Wednesday, Aug. 31, printed edition of the Echo Press and posted online . In addition, there will be several photo galleries posted on the Echo Press website this week.
For more information about the Douglas County Fair, visit its website at dcmnfair.com .
