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On Friday, employees of the Erie County Agricultural Society gathered to publically thank Western New York for being named the 11th largest fair in North America (and fourth-largest county fair) according to a ranking recently published by CarnivalWarehouse.com. The ranking includes all county and state fairs, exhibitions, livestock and rodeo shows in the U.S. and Canada.
"The ranking is quite an accomplishment for the Buffalo-Niagara region when you consider that the Erie County Fair out ranks most of the state fairs in the United States, including the New York State Fair," said Jessica Underberg, assistant fair manager. "Many of the fairs who rank higher than us also have a longer run than the Erie County Fair's 12 days."
This past August, the Erie County Fair experienced a record-setting number of visitors - 1,160,184 - breaking the previous record set in 2011 by 10 percent. Eleventh place is the best North American ranking received by the Erie County Fair in the modern era of tabulations.
In 2014, the ECAS will host its 175th Erie County Fair from Aug. 6-17.
In
addition, The International Association of Fairs and Expositions recently
announced the Erie County Fair was the winner of 19 awards, including eight
first-place awards, seven second-place awards and four third-place awards in
its annual competitions. The Erie County Fair competed in a division class that
consists of fairs with attendance topping 1 million. Competition included the
Iowa State Fair, Tulsa State Fair, San Diego County Fair, Minnesota State Fair,
The Big E and the Washington State Fair. The Erie County Fair won in the
following categories:
AGRICULTURAL AWARDS
1st Place - New Program to Promote Agricultural - Chick Hatchery Exhibit, Ag-Sperience
1st Place - Non-Fair Agricultural Event or Program - Empire State Beef Classic Show
1st Place - Program Designed to Correct an Issue Related to Agriculture - Washrack Educational Staffing
2nd Place - Agricultural Photo - Swine photo
2nd Place - Agricultural Series Photo - Beef photo
3rd Place - Agricultural Educational Event, Exhibit or Program for Fairgoing Public - Apple display
HALL OF HONOR COMMUNICATIONS AWARDS
1st Place - Best Individual Mobile Effort - Fairgrounds app
2nd Place - Brochure/Flyer Series - Daily sheets
2nd Place - Web Advertisement - WGRZ-TV expandable website ad
3rd Place - Printed Promotional Material - Eight-page brochure
3rd Place - Solution Based Communication Effort - Move of concessioner location
3rd Place - Promotion Event - Food Drive
COMPETITIVE EXHIBITS AWARDS
1st Place - Competitive Exhibit Display Method or Prop - Shorn fleece display
1st Place - New or Unique Single Class of Competitive Exhibits - "As Seen on Pinterest" contest in creative arts
1st Place - Unique Contest - Hair competition
1st Place - New Strategy to Increase Exhibitors - American Boer Goat Assoc. Double Pointed Show
2nd Place - New or Unique Division of Competitive Exhibits - Cupcake competition
2nd Place - Use of Fair's Theme in a Single Class or Contest - "Dress it Up" contest in creative arts
2nd Competitive Exhibits Photo - Photo cupcake competition.
The awards were presented at the IAFE Convention in Las Vegas held earlier this month. More than 3,500 fairs, festivals, expositions and suppliers in the U.S. and internationally are members of IAFE.
The Erie County Agricultural Society is a private, not-for-profit membership organization. Established in 1819, the society is the oldest civic organization in Western New York. The society does not receive funding from New York state or from Erie County. The mission of the Erie County Agricultural Society, sponsors of the Erie County Fair, is to preserve and enhance, by educational endeavors, the agricultural and historical legacy of New York state. The fair strives to fulfill appropriate aspects of the agricultural, educational, entertainment and recreational needs of Western New York.
CarnivalWarehouse.com's 2013 Top 50 Fairs
1 Texas State Fair, Dallas 2,598,215
2 Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, Houston 2,506,238
3 Minnesota State Fair, St. Paul, Minn. 1,731,162
4 San Antonio Livestock Show, San Antonio 1,665,747
5 Eastern State Exhibition, Springfield, Mass. 1,481,917
6 Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona, Calif. 1,438,514
7 San Diego County Fair, Del Mar, Calif. 1,425,200
8 Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa, Calif. 1,374,579
9 Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto 1,360,000
10 Arizona State Fair, Phoenix 1,178,515
11 ERIE COUNTY FAIR, HAMBURG 1,160,184
14 Wisconsin State Fair, West Allis, Wis. 1,012,522
18 Indiana State Fair, Indianapolis 978,296
19 Illinois State Fair, Springfield, Ill. 961,142
20 North Carolina State Fair, Raleigh, N.C. 927,563
21 Ohio State Fair, Columbus, Ohio 903,824
23 NEW YORK STATE FAIR, Syracuse 851,157
26 California State Fair, Sacramento 697,045
27 Colorado State Fair, Pueblo, Colo. 476,966
40 Georgia State Fair, Perry, Ga. 449,855
42 Florida State Fair, Tampa 443,000
43 Dutchess County Fair, Rhinebeck 432,796
50 New Mexico State Fair, Albuquerque 388,323
See complete list at http://www.carnivalwarehouse.com/lists/2013list.pdf.