State Fair drew a bigger crowd in Caroline location

Moving the State Fair of Virginia to Caroline County didn't seem to affect attendance at the annual event.

The State Fair drew 247,958 people during its first year at The Meadow Event Park off state Route 30 in Doswell. That marks a 2.4 percent increase from last year, when 242,236 people visited during its final year in Henrico County, which it had called home for 63 years.

Fair President Curry Roberts said yesterday that organizers are pleased.

"We did very well on our weekday traffic, which we were curious about, moving out of a more urban location; our weekends were strong," Roberts said. "When you move a location and . . . you're trying to attract people to a new destination, especially when they've been used to one for 60 years, if you can still attract more people than live in the city of Richmond, we're pretty pleased by that."

The State Fair also topped its five-year average of 243,753 visitors.

Roberts also acknowledged issues that need to be ironed out for next year, such as addressing parking complaints.

"There are clearly things we can do a better job with, and we will," Roberts said. "We've already started analyzing those." -- Jeremy Slayton