First half fair attendance increases over last year

Today marks the half-way point in the Iowa State Fair’s 11-day run.Estimated attendance hit 70-thousand Monday — that’s 13-thousand morethan on the first Monday of last year.Fair spokeswoman Kathie Swift says the estimated attendance has been upevery day so far by at least four-thousand people. She says the biggestdays for attendance may still be ahead.Swift would not speculate on whether this will be the year the fair finallytops the one million mark.The biggest day this year, so far, was Saturday with more than 121-thousandfair goers. The record year was in 1997 with 946-thousand attendees.