MOUNT VERNON — Attendance at the 2011 Knox County Fair was down by more than 20,000 visitors from 2010, according to fair board member Jim Shipley.
“The rain on Sunday evening and again on Friday really hurt us. Plus the weather was so hot,” said Shipley about the reasons for lower attendance. “Sunday is always a big night with the truck pull. That one really killed us.”
Total attendance was just over 178,000, compared to more than 198,000 in 2010. Despite the low overall numbers, Wednesday’s attendance set a single-day attendance record at more than 35,000 people, according to Shipley, as the rough truck contest brought out a large crowd of spectators.


