COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — It was fun galore and much, much more.
The 10-day 2024 North Idaho State Fair wrapped on a high note Sunday, breaking records inside and outside of the rodeo arena.
The 170,882 visitors to this year's fair broke attendance records for an increase of 8% over the 2023 fair and surpassing 2022's record of 168,567 guests.
"It was a great year in so many ways," North Idaho State Fair general manager Alexcia Jordan said Tuesday. "The weather was kind to us all, volunteers went above and beyond, entries for exhibits were strong, our entertainment was top-notch. It takes a lot of moving pieces to make an event of this scale come out successfully."
The North Idaho State Fair annually hosts the Gem State Stampede, attracting more than 13,000 fans across five nights of rodeo events. The 2024 stampede featured 605 contestants from the United States, Canada and beyond. Two arena records were shattered — Darcy Kersh of Queensland, Australia. set a new steer wrestling record at 3.6 seconds and Summer Kosel of Glenham, S.D.. broke the barrel racing record with a time of 17.16 seconds.
Of the 10 Findlay Arena shows offered this year, seven were sold out.
More than 120 different free entertainment options were found throughout the fairgrounds this season, including the Extreme Dog Show, the Silver Starlets, the Major League Circus Show, RoboCars, stilt walkers and Sara Twister as well as over 25 local bands and musicians featured on the Main Stage.
Over 160 commercial vendors were scattered throughout the grounds and 34 concessionaires offered traditional favorites, as well as new menu items. Many vendors and concessionaires were from North Idaho.
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