'The attendance says it was a success'

PRETTY FAIR CROWD: The numbers on Saturday, Sept. 9, may have been the best..(Rochester Voice photo)

ROCHESTER - Rochester Fair Board President Nancy Gilbert said on Monday that all indications are that this year's Rochester Fair was nothing short of a spectacular success.

While the hard numbers won't be released for several weeks, "The attendance says it was a success," Gilbert said.

What may have been record crowds visited the fair both Saturdays, including Sept. 9, when more than 20,000 came through the turnstiles, according to fair organizer Mark Perry.

Gilbert said the numbers would be released after the Rochester Fair Board of Trustees meets later this fall.

In the meantime, Gilbert said she is already looking forward to next year's fair and hopes to increase her vendor count.

This year's drive for vendors was hurt due to uncertainty on whether the city would allow use of the Exhibition Hall due to safety issues.

Just a few days before this year's fair, Gilbert said she was still scrambling to comply with city safety officials who said she needed a backup PA system for the Exhibition Hall to warn fairgoers in the event of fire.

In addition the fair paid Rochester Fire for two-man teams who walked the Exhibition Hall throughout the day and night while the fair was open to make sure everyone stayed safe.

Gilbert said she is looking forward to working with Rochester Fire to ensure that issues can be addressed soon, so that she can market vendor space more aggressively earlier.

With costly structural and life safety studies already completed earlier this summer that were also paid for by the fair, she is hoping that process will move swiftly.

Gilbert said she and other volunteers as well as Rochester Fair board members were buoyed by the huge support the public showed the fair.

"So many people came up and thanked us, personally," she said, "And of course we couldn't have done it without all our volunteers."

She said the 100 or so volunteers who worked tirelessly before and during the fair were vital to its success.