Syracuse.com’s Chris Baker has an article on the website with the concert attendance counts from this year’s grandstand concert series at the New York State Fair. We can’t figure out why the concert numbers weren’t released sooner, but it’s always interesting to get a look.
As expected, not-quite-country rocker Jason Aldean’s sold-out Aug. 30 concert was the big draw with 17,505 fans on hand, while the multi-band Uproar Festival was lowest with 3,487. Overall it looks like a good year with eight concerts averaging 8,641 seats filled. (The photo below of Brad Paisley performing during his Aug. 21 show is from the State Fair website)
Motorsports events on Labor Day weekend added 6,851 to the attendance numbers. Both concert and motorsports figures are significant increases over the 2013 Fair.
Overall, Grandstand events contributed over 75,000 to the total Fair attendance, a number we contend supports State Fair Hound’s position that a new concert venue belongs on land within or adjoining the Fairgrounds rather than on the lakeshore. More on that was spelled out in our July 11 post, Hold the Shows.
If you look around the edges of the grounds while passing, especially on I-695 (ideally while someone else is driving) there seems to be potential there to either build the amphitheater or to add parking/camping lots in order to make space elsewhere for a concert shell. We don’t know all of the details, nor have we done a study, but we think those in charge should take a look.
While we’re in the neighborhood of the Grandstand, we want to mention that we noticed an absence of attractions on the infield during the 2014 Fair. A number of things have been tried there over the years, but it’s tough to attract Fairgoers to what seems a somewhat remote, off-the-beaten-path location. Thrill-seeker adventures like go-carts or that giant human slingshot have been tried, as well as a circus and petting zoo and some sideshows like pig racing.
You can take the ramp from the midway or the tram will take you there, but you have to know where you’re going and that creates a barrier for those who prefer to wander the grounds haphazardly. So this year, campers, cars and trucks had it all to themselves. There’s so much land there that there has to be a way to use it. We suspect this is an agenda item for Fair planners and maybe it could fit in with concert venue projections.
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