By Andrew Krueger, Minnesota Public Radio News

 

Thursday’s near-perfect weather conditions helped the Minnesota State Fair set an opening-day attendance record.

Fair officials said 133,326 people passed through the gates on Thursday. That broke the previous opening-day record of 122,695, set just last year.

Partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s greeted fairgoers on the first day of the 2019 fair.

Despite the record, opening day is among the least-attended days at the fair each year, with the busiest two days usually falling on the Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

The fair’s all-time single-day attendance record is 270,426 — set last year on the Saturday before Labor Day.

Last year also saw record overall attendance at the fair, with more than 2 million visitors.