FRYEBURG – There has been a more-than-fair amount of media hype that high gas prices would keep many people from traveling to their favorite destinations this year. At midweek, that didn’t seem to be the case at the Fryeburg Fair.
“We’re doing fine,” Barry Emery, ticket superintendent said Wednesday. “Considering the price of fuel and the economy and everything that is happening in the world, we’re doing very well.”
Emery said about 2,000 more people paid to enter the fair on Tuesday, versus the same day of the week last year. On Tuesday, 15,145 people paid to visit the fair, just short of the record of 15,496 set on the same day of the week in 2000.
Tuesday is Senior Citizens Day every year at the fair, when people age 65 and older are admitted free.
Fair officials said they are still expecting an aggregate total of 400,000 people to visit the fair this year.
The weather forecast for Saturday calls for heavy rain. Saturday is traditionally the fair’s biggest day in terms of attendance, the day the Grand Parade is held.
Emery said he’s not too worried. “If it pours, we’ll still have 15,000 to 20,000,” he said, noting that the last time it rained on Saturday at the fair, 25,000 people paid to visit.
The paid total on Sunday, opening day, reached 27,487. The record on opening day is 29,955, set in 2001.
Monday’s paid total reached 24,310. The record was set last year on that day, when paid attendance was 26,017.
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