The State Fair of Texas welcomed nearly 2.4 million people during its 24-day run, increasing its attendance compared to last year.
People from all over the world traveled to the “Most Texan Place on Earth” from Sept. 30 to Oct. 20.
In the fair’s 138th year, guests ate eye-catching and mouthwatering foods, took more than 100,000 rides on the iconic Texas Star Ferris Wheel and won more than 400,000 prizes on the Midway, according to data released by fair officials this week.
Some days inside Dallas’ historic Fair Park were much busier than others, according to data released by the fair Tuesday, but the visitation seemed steady throughout the season.
This year’s total attendance — 2,385,855 people to be exact — wasn’t record breaking, falling short of the 2.5 million visitors benchmark set in 2022. This year saw an increase of more than 44,400 visitors compared to last year’s fair attendance of 2,341,449, which was thought to be impacted by a shooting in the Tower Building and poor weather.
The busiest day at the fair was Oct. 12 when the Texas-Oklahoma football game was played in the Cotton Bowl. A total of 212,003attendees were counted that Saturday. That was about 3,200 more people than last year’s Texas-OU game day.
More than 144,000 fans attended a game inside the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium this season between the Red River Rivalry game and the State Fair Classic.
The longstanding annual Red River Rivalry game, typically played the second Saturday of the fair, usually draws the event’s largest crowd. This year, SEC Nation filmed at the Hall of State from 10 a.m. to noon ahead of the afternoon game.
Though the game has been played for more than a century, both teams recently joined the Southeastern Conference.
Other shows like Marty & McGee and The Paul Finebaum Show were also filmed at the fair during the weekend.
No other day broke 200,000 in attendance.
The next busiest days of the season were the following Monday, Oct. 14, and Thursday, Oct. 17, with 143,103 and 139,472 visitors, respectively.
Twelve of the fair’s 24 days had more than 100,000 visitors.
Meanwhile, the slowest days were toward the beginning of the fair.
Sept. 30, the first Monday of the event, was the slowest day of the season with 45,801 visitors.
The visitor count remained low Tuesday, Oct. 1, and Wednesday, Oct. 2, with 52,655 and 46,906 visitors, respectively. The only other day that didn’t break 60,000 guests was Monday, Oct. 7.
The 2025 State Fair of Texas is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26, through Sunday, Oct. 19.
CORRECTION, 7:11 a.m., Oct. 23, 2024: An earlier version of this story misstated how many fans attended the Red River Rivalry game. A combined 144,000 fans attended the Red River Rivalry and State Fair Classic games.
