Weather, political soapbox contribute to record Iowa State Fair attendance

The Iowa State Fair set three one-day attendance records on the way to breaking the previous attendance for the 11-day celebration.

From Aug. 8 to 18, 1,170,375 people visited the fairgrounds in Des Moines, according to a fair spokeswoman.

The recipe for records included unseasonably nice weather, an outstanding grandstand lineup, competition from livestock to quilts, new daytime programming, more than 50 new foods, and a parade of presidential hopefuls, she said.

Attendance bested records of 1,130,260 set in 2018 and 1,117,398 set in 2015. The fair consistently has attracted more than 1 million visitors since 2002.

With the exception of Aug. 9, each day's attendance this year was greater than the same day in 2018.

Three one-day records were set this year: Aug, 13, 14 and 16. The 122,111 attendance Aug. 10 was the second-highest attendance on a Saturday, surpassed only by 127,277 in 1991.

A breakdown of daily attendance:

' Thursday, Aug. 8 - 84,928

' Friday, Aug. 9 - 103,096

' Saturday, Aug. 10 - 122,111

' Sunday, Aug. 11 - 108,283

' Monday, Aug. 12 - 97,682

' Tuesday, Aug. 13 - 102,953

' Wednesday, Aug. 14 - 109,323

' Thursday, Aug. 15 - 104,247

' Friday, Aug 16 - 112,891

' Saturday, Aug. 17 - 119,276

' Sunday, Aug 18 - 105,585