GEDDES -- The final day of the Great New York State Fair was filled with crowds of umbrellas and bright ponchos.
Attendance for Day 12 was down by more than 20,000 visitors. Over the course of the 12 days, fair officials say attendance dipped by more than 80,000 from last year. The fair says Mother Nature is mostly to blame.
Fair officials put the final overall attendance at 917,464, down by 82,381 from 2010.
But despite numbers being down, many vendors say business was still good. At the Big Kahuna Grill, the rain didn't wash out appetites.
"Usually they stay inside but this crowd is pretty brave. They came out for lunch in full force," said Samuel Moser from the Big Kahuna Grill.
"It's always been a good fair, I've been here since 1988. A few rainy days slows it down, but all and all it was another good fair," said Jan Cates, who has a jewelry booth in the Center of Progress building.
And for vendors like Wilson Campbell, the rainy weather is actually good for soup business.
"The rain has people thinking about soup," he said. "When it's a little chilly, it's soup weather."
Fair officials say a record was broken this year. Despite the dip in attendance, fair director Dan O'Hara said the event brought in more than $2 million in ticket sales for rides, topping last year's record-breaking ticket sales.
Meanwhile, the fair is starting to look at everything and break down what worked, and what needs to be improved.
"The free entertainment at Chevy Court went extremely well," said Fair Director Dan O'Hara. "But we had some lessons learned. We'll look at the bathrooms again we'll brief at the end and talk about that."
Proof that the planning for 2012 starts before the 2011 fair is even over.
