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.

Now that the State Fair of Virginia has concluded its 11-day run at its new location in Caroline County, organizers are looking at ways to improve the event for next year—especially the parking. At times, the entrance to The Meadow Event Park in Doswell was a scene of gridlock and hourlong waits. Access to the parking areas at the State Fair site was from one entrance off state Route 30.

For the past 18 months, the State Fair of Virginia has been talking through the logistics of bringing hordes of visitors, plus funnel-cake vendors and racing pigs, to a new site in rural Caroline County. Now, the planning is giving way to the real thing.