Over half a million people attended 2022 Mississippi State Fair

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Mississippi State Truthful ended this previous weekend with sturdy attendance numbers.

However simply how many individuals really attended the occasion, and was it an enormous cash maker for the metro?

Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson says he’s happy with the attendance numbers for the Mississippi State Truthful this yr.

“We had been aiming for 600,000 we had 519,000 folks and we are going to take that.”

He says though numbers had been barely under the pre-pandemic ranges for the 11-day occasion it was nonetheless spectacular.

“At first our attendance was a bit of decrease than regular. I feel folks had been ready to see how this new program would work, however towards the tip, we had enormous crowds Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the final three days of the honest,” Gipson stated

Security was a significant focus on the state honest this yr. This yr, there have been no main incidents on the honest due to a lift in safety and different security steps.

The rise in security comes after the lethal Mississippi Mudbug Pageant taking pictures the place a number of folks had been shot and one particular person was killed in late April.

Gipson says state, native and municipal legislation enforcement working collectively was a significant deterrent for crime the honest.

“We anticipated to have a bit of decrease attendance this yr as a result of we did have a brand new coverage however after 9 o’clock,” he stated. “Unsupervised youth weren’t allowed to come back with out grownup supervision. We even have metallic detectors at our seven entrances. We had been capable of have numerous nice households with our methods. We stored numerous the troublemakers out of the fairgrounds. Backside line, we met our purpose of getting a protected and safe, family-friendly state honest.”

There have been additionally large financial advantages due to the state’s largest occasion within the capital metropolis.

“The latest examine the Jackson State put collectively confirmed that the state honest carries a couple of $50 million financial impression for the entire metropolitan space,” Gipson stated. “We had been more than happy with our numbers. Our primary purpose was to have a protected honest, and our numbers had been nearly the place we anticipated them to be. I feel we set the stage to develop it much more subsequent yr and looking out ahead to planning the 2023 Mississippi State Truthful.”

Gipson says the brand new water properly system on the fairgrounds additionally got here in helpful on the honest.

About 1.3 million gallons of recent water was used for all the pieces from making lemonade and candy tea, to washing cattle.

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