As the State Fair headed into its final weekend, attendance was up, then down.

Friday's attendance at the State Fair was 63,310 -- that's up a bit from 63,231 on the same day last year.

On Saturday, rainy weather early in the day dampened attendance, which topped out at 76,296. On the same day last year, the fair set a single-day record, with a whopping 145,955 attending.

The fair had a picture-perfect fall day for its finale today.

Thursday was another down day for N.C. State Fair attendance compared to last year, but fair officials have begun to take a longer view.

The attendance Thursday was 80,094, or about 8,700 less than last year. It was sixth day out of seven that fair attendance has lagged last year.

But today’s attendance announcement from state Department of Agriculture points out that the 20-year average attendance for Thursday is 70,504, so this year’s number looks pretty good by comparison.

Overall, 523,686 people had attended the fair through Thursday, down from 550,992 last year. This year’s total includes an extra half a day last Thursday that was supposed to help push total fair attendance to a new record.

Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said bad weather, high gas prices and the souring economy have made this year challenging.

“I’m still hopeful that we’ll make up the numbers this weekend, when we’re supposed to have sunshine and the 70s,” Troxler said. “We’re probably not going to break last year’s record [858,611] but we should do better than 2006 [785,956] that was our lowest number for the last five years. My guess is we’ll end up somewhere in the middle of the five year average."

Wednesday's attendance at the State Fair was 67,028 people — down from last year's 75,746 on the Wednesday of the fair.

Fair vendors are seeing smaller crowds this year than last. Some blame the struggling economy, while others point to chilly weather.

Since the fair opened last Thursday, only Tuesday has seen attendance higher than the same day last year. Overall through Wednesday, fair attendance was 443,592 — down from 462, 191 for the same period last year. This year's fair also included an extra half day open on Thursday.

Officials are hoping for attendance to rebound today, when fairgoers can get in free with a donation of four cans of food. Traditionally, Can Day gives the fair a nice attendance spike. 

For the fourth day Monday, State Fair attendance was down from last year.

On Monday, 54,532 people attended the fair, compared with 63,032 on the same day last year.

Since the fair's opening Thursday, only one day — the half day the fair was open Thursday — exceeded the attendance of last year. Of course, last year's fair didn't open on that first Thursday. 

Even with the extra half day added in, this year's total attendance so far — 305,365 people — is down from 316,628 people at this point last year. 

For the third straight day, attendance at the N.C. State Fair on Sunday was below last year’s numbers, and a spokesman said weather may have been a factor.

Despite clear skies, Sunday’s brisk weather may have dampened attendance, particularly after the sun went down, said Brian Long, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Sunday’s 85,495 visitors was about 8,000 fewer than the same day last year.

“I think the cool temperatures probably were a factor yesterday,” Long said. “I noticed we didn’t have a huge night-time crowd last night.”

Attendance at the first three full days of the fair is 215,618, compared to 253,596 last year. Another 35,215 people attended the extra half day added to the beginning of this year's fair on Thursday.

Temperatures are expected to rebound into the mid-60s today and the lower 70s on Tuesday, under mostly sunny skies.

“We’ll see if the weather was a factor or not over the next couple of days,” Long said.

Following a rainy Friday that kept numbers low, State Fair attendance rebounded Saturday, with 87,457 people passing though the fair's gates.
 
The same day last year was a little busier, with 102,325 attending.

Today's sunny skies will likely result in a jump in attendance over Saturday.

As expected, Friday night's downpours appear to have kept many a fairgoer away. Attendance Friday was 42,666 -- down from 57,798 on the same day at last year's fair.

But add in Thursday's half-day attendance of 35,215, and that's nearly 78,000 people who went to this year's fair in its first two days -- rainy or not.

So at this point, attendance is ahead of last year. (Just forget that there was no Thursday attendance then!)

The new Thursday preview proved a big success, according to Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, who was front and center at the Jim Graham Building this morning.

No attendance numbers were available yet, but Troxler had an answer ready anyway.

"I can tell you this: we set an all-time attendance record for opening on Thursday," he said, "because it's the first time we ever had it."

Gates open at 8 a.m. from now on. Those who hit the grounds as soon as they opened are getting breakfast without standing in lines and hitting popular exhibits before the crush of the big crowds.