Friday’s Minnesota State Fair numbers set a record for second day in a row

Attendance numbers at the Minnesota State Fair on Friday again set a record for the day, as 171,233 people visited the fairgrounds.

State Fair officials reported that Friday’s attendance numbers surpassed 2023′s former record by nearly 6,500. It was the second straight day that the fair set a new attendance record, following the crowd of nearly 139,000 on Thursday that beat 2019′s opening day numbers.

Los Angeles singer Becky G headlined the State Fair’s performances Thursday, while Chicago artist Chance the Rapper headlined on Friday, drawing thousands of fans to the grandstand. Other acts this year include Blake Shelton, Ludacris and T-Pain.

High attendance and popular shows so far could set the stage for a record year for the State Fair. More than 2.1 million people visited the Great Minnesota Get-Together in 2019 before COVID-19 forced people to shelter and the State Fair to cancel. More than 1.8 million visited the fair when the fair re-opened in 2022.

Gov. Tim Walz has announced no official plans to visit the State Fair this year, though the governor is a regular fair attendee. Walz has spent recent weeks campaigning with Vice President Kamala Harris after she chose him as her running mate in the presidential race.