Wind, rain, cold temperatures and even snow kept the crowds away and attendance low at the Clark County Fair this year.

By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

Fierce winds, frigid temperatures, falling rain and even snow dealt a devastating blow to the Clark County Fair and Rodeo last week causing an estimated 20 to 25 percent drop in attendance.

The general gate was tallied at 62,819 visitors, down more than 25,000 from an average of 88,200, said Todd Robison, executive director of the annual Moapa Valley event. Rodeo attendance was counted at 10,213, down more than 3,000 from an average of about 13,900.

“The poor showing will have a significant impact on the fair,” Robison said. “I don’t know exactly how big or bad the impact will be, but we’ll be reviewing everything in the next week or so.”

Although the fair had as much or more to offer this year as in past years, Robison said the three days of bad weather over its four-day run was just too significant to get around.

“We sand-blasted them on Thursday, froze them on Friday and then rained and snowed on them on Saturday and it was just too much” he said. “We often expect one or even possibly two days of bad weather but we’ve never had a fair with three days of such bad weather all in a row.”

One concessionaire was forced to pull up stakes and leave after the terrible winds on the opening day last Thursday destroyed some pop-up tents that were not secured properly, Robison said.

At least three booths that pre-paid for space did not even show up and Robison said he believes it too may have been linked to the forecasts for inclement weather.

“They probably decided to cut their losses before they even came,” he said. “This is an outdoor event and you just have to take what comes along.”

Despite the weather, Robison applauded this year’s event giving credit to the hundreds of people who worked for months to make the fair a success.

The displays, exhibits and activities all combined to make this an outstanding fair, he said. Obviously the weather is something that can’t be controlled, but overall those who came were treated to a great event.

Sunday, the last day of the fair, was postcard perfect and attendance was nearly 10 percent over the average daily gate. People lined up by the hundreds to get in.

“One good thing about the poor weather is it pushed people indoors to experience the exhibits and entertainment inside the tents and buildings,” Robison said.