It was another wet start to the 2026 Iowa State Fair when it opened for its second day on Friday, Aug. 14.
The Iowa State Fair’s second-day attendance numbers are in. Did the first Friday of the 2026 fair outdraw 2025’s crowd of more than 100,000? Here’s what to know.
How many people attended the second day of the 2026 Iowa State Fair?
The Iowa State Fair saw 100,265 people attend on Friday, Aug. 14, about 4,000 less than last year.
How does attendance compare to the 2025 Iowa State Fair?
In 2025, 104,191 people attended the second day of the fair.
Eight of the 11 fair days in 2025 eclipsed the 100,000 people in attendance mark, according to the Iowa State Fair. By the end of it, 1,160,121 people attended the fair in 2025, the third-highest total in the fair’s history.
When is the Iowa State Fair 2026?
The Iowa State Fair runs from Thursday, Aug. 13, through Sunday, Aug. 23.
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Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Here’s how many people attended the Iowa State Fair on Friday, Aug. 14
Reporting by Cooper Worth and Courtney Crowder, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Cooper Worth and Courtney Crowder, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
