San Rafael, CA – From July 3-7, a total of 116,639 people celebrated the extended Fourth of July holiday weekend at the 78th Marin County Fair, generating $1,511,760 in ticket revenue. The ticket figure was up 4.3% from last year’s revenue of $1,449,714.
Fireworks provide a visual thrill every night of the Marin County Fair.
The
Marin County Department of Cultural Services, which manages the Fair, reported 86,154 paid attendance and 30,485 comp admission tickets. With a single-day record of 31,885 celebrating Fourth of July at the fair, overall attendance was up 11% from last year’s total of 104,942.
The fair’s theme, Over the Moon!, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing by American astronauts as well as some of the things we value most in our community: family, art, agriculture, and the environment. Headline concerts by the Dwight Yoakam, Cheap Trick, Steel Pulse, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Mariachi Divas, the Distractions, and Abba The Concert entertained fairgoers each night.
Some additional post-fair statistics:
- 10,597 children admitted free, including 7,502 on Kids Free Day
(July 3);
- More than 15,000 items were entered in the competitive exhibits program, from fine art to cookies and trash-to-treasure creations including 30 pies, 23 cheesecakes, and 26 healthy food choices;
- 8 babies participated in the Baby Derby;
- 700 poetry books given out to fairgoers by the Marin County Poet Laureate Terry Lucas in the Poetry Connection Corner;
- 146 artworks sold in the fine art and exhibits area totaling $59,000 in art sales ($23,000 on the Fourth of July alone) and $16,000 in the Green Room Gallery; the majority of the works were by Marin County artists;
- 180 fairgoers collectively attempted to break the world record for the most people doing the moonwalk at one time (world record verification pending);
- 3,224 rode the Fair Shuttle;
- 10,000 people rode the SMART train to the fair, including 420 who took the northbound “late” train at 10:30 p.m. after the fireworks;
- 580 pounds of food donations distributed to nonprofits associated with ExtraFood.org, a Marin organization that rescues excess fresh food and serves it to the county’s most vulnerable residents.
For more information, go to www.marinfair.org.