Nothing compares to the Iowa State Fair and the 2022 one-day all-time record breaking attendance. Even with a little rain off and on during the day, Saturday, August 20th marks the highest one-day attendance of all time at 128,298 attendees. The previous record was 127,277 people on Saturday, August 17, 1991. The total attendance so far for the 2022 Iowa State Fair is 1,016,917.
On Saturday, August 20th, the Iowa State Fair also crushed the Guinness World Record for the largest cornhole tournament with 730 participants. The previous record was set in 2019 with 444 participants in San Diego, California.
The Iowa State Fair ranks among the largest Fairs in the nation with consistent attendance over 1 million and has been recording attendance numbers over 1 million visitors since 2002, with the exception of the 2020 Fair, which was not held due to COVID.
A breakdown of daily attendance numbers in 2022 is listed below:
Thursday, August 11 – 82,862
Friday, August 12 – 103,556
Saturday, August 13 – 113,012
Sunday, August 14 – 110,661
Monday, August 15 – 87,599
Tuesday, August 16 – 99,965
Wednesday, August 17 – 97,901
Thursday, August 18 – 99,715
Friday, August 19 – 93,348
Saturday, August 20 – 128,298*
Sunday, August 21 –
*One-day attendance record.
Following the Fair, daily attendance estimates are set aside and an actual count of tickets including daily sales, advance sales, exhibitors, concessionaires, campers, children, credentials, half price, etc. is made to determine the final total attendance.