1.8M admissions at 2022 State Fair, for 5th best-attended on record

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. -- It wasn't the most-attended State Fair of all time, or the second, but it was in the top five, and a significant improvement over 2021's attendance figures.

Releasing the final tally Tuesday afternoon, fair officials say that 1,842,222 admissions were logged in 2022. Labor Day saw 156,985 of those, compared to 123,578 in 2021. The 2020 fair was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Each day of 2022 saw higher attendance figures than the year before, but in the end no match for the six record-breaking days that the 2019 fair saw. That year also broke the record for overall yearly attendance, at 2,126,551.

"Thanks also to the tens of thousands of people who worked so very hard to make State Fair magic," General Manager Jerry Hammer said. "It was clear from the first moments on opening day that people were more than ready to return home to their State Fair. 'We really need this' is what we heard from many very happy people."

Other fair factoids shared on Tuesday: there were more than 32,000 competitive agricultural and creative entries, from which more than $1.7 million in prize money was awarded.

The winner of this year's talent show was Aurora Wang of Shoreview in the open division (playing a piano solo of "Paganini Variations"), the vocal group Six in the teen division (winning for their rendition of "Ex-Wives"), and Tahari Conrad of Shoreview in the preteen division (a dance solo called "Ain't That a Kick").

The winners of the 2022 State Fair's "Best" Awards were: Ball Park Cafe; Break-A-Bottle Game by Thornberry Concessions; Fiore Trees; Hansen's Amusement Foods; KMOJ Radio; Minneapple Pie; Puzzle Twist; Rick's Pizza by R&J Concessions; Root'd; Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community; Soul Bowl; Techno Power; and Tilt-A-Whirl.