About 31,000 attend IOW Fair

Published 11:42 am Monday, September 17, 2012

Country music singer Tracy Lawrence performs during the Isle of Wight County Fair on Saturday. GWEN ALBERS/TIDEWATER NEWS

WINDSOR—A total of roughly 31,000 attended the four-day Isle of Wight County Fair, which closed on Sunday.

This could be a new attendance record. A record of 29,300 was set in 2010.

Fair coordinator Darlene Keyt expects to have more concrete numbers by Monday afternoon.

“This is the total approximate,” Keyt said. “We have not released final numbers.”

Saturday drew roughly 16,000 to the fair, which included a concert by country music legend Tracy Lawrence.

Scheduled closures of the Hampton Road Bridge Tunnel and the James River Bridge are believed to have hurt the weekend attendance, she said. Overcast skies also may have hurt attendance on Sunday.

“We had some challenges with VDOT closures,” Keyt said. “We did not realize that would impact us. We had one employee who (lives) within miles of the Monitor Merrimac (Bridge Tunnel). It took her four hours to get to her position at the fair.”

Attendance for Carload Night on Thursday was 2,800. About 5,200 attended Friday and approximately 7,000 went to the fair on Sunday, when country group Gloriana performed.

“We had hoped our numbers would be a little higher,” Keyt said about Sunday. “It was really overcast, but it never rained at the fairgrounds. We had sprinkling at best.”

“We definitely think it was a successful weekend and a great community come-together,” she added.