State Fair Looking Ahead | Video

Jenny Castro | 7/30/2012

The numbers are in for the North Dakota State Fair and this year`s fair attendance has broken the 2010 record. Now that the fair is over, the fair staff is still very busy; cleaning up from this fair and getting ready for the next one.

For many residents in Minot, the North Dakota State fair wasn`t just the height of summer, but also a turning point in recovery.

"It was like a state of normalcy. We got back to where we used to be and people were just glad to have fun again and bring all the people back into our city and it was a time to celebrate,” said Fair Manager Renae Korslien.

Korslien says that the out-of-towners couldn`t stop talking about how clean and fun the fair was this year.

It’s hard to believe that just one week ago, the midway was full of hundreds of fairgoers. Now all that`s left is a few stands still cleaning up and a big mess to take care of.

“Monday morning, of course we`re all tired. We are, but a lot of people are picking up their projects that they have on display, vendors are settling up and moving out,” said Korslien.

“We’re doing everything from cleaning barns to taking down the main grandstand stage and putting everything away,” said Assistant Fair Manager Craig Rudland.

Fair ground staff don`t really have a chance to take a break until about a week after the fair when everything is cleaned up and put back in place. The office staff is adding receipts, transferring money and tying up any other lose ends.

Very soon, the focus will shift towards next year. No concrete stages have been booked, but they`re already looking ahead.

“We want to correct the little things that happened now and move forward with good things. We`re talking to artists and free stages and commercial exhibitors,” said Korslien.

“We work all year long to get where we started before the fair so we`ll just start over and get ready again for next year,” said Rudland.

The fairgrounds, now nearly empty, is still littered with a week`s worth of stray garbage. But compared to the flood debris the staff saw last year, the sight is much more bearable.

The total attendance for this year`s fair was 310,889. The attendance is over 2,000 more than the record set in 2010.

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