2025 State Fair of Texas review focuses on attendance, security and affordability
State Fair of Texas sees lowest attendance since 2021
State Fair of Texas officials recapped the 2025 event at a Dallas city council meeting today, which revealed the 2025 state fair was the lowest attended fair since 2021.
DALLAS - A 2025 State Fair of Texas recap from fair officials this week revealed a troubling drop in the event’s attendance.
What we know:
An area of focus was the 2 million people who attended. It was the lowest attendance numbers since 2021.
Some of the attendance drop was due to high school students not being given tickets in 2025.
Mitchell Glieber, president of the State Fair of Texas, spoke to city council members on the challenges the event faced in 2025.
"The difficulty is finding what percentage is responsible for what. First economic factors, inflation and the labor market. Things like groceries and dining out," Glieber said.
What they're saying:
He told council members they faced multiple hurdles this year - inflation, weather and in his words concerns about immigration enforcement.
"The state fair controls admission and parking, outside of that vendors control food and beverage prices and games. We will be looking at that in our senior management meeting. That will be our priority going into 2026 is to do a deep dive into everything related to pricing at the state fair," Glieber continued.
Aside from attendance — a big area of focus was security.
Following a shooting at the 2024 fair, security measures were increased.
"We had drone tech that was available to us in real time," Glieber said on improved security. "We did attempt a harder approach on that front (bags changes). So I can’t say enough about law enforcement and DFR."
Fewer people visited the State Fair of Texas this year
With the 2025 State Fair of Texas coming to an end, the official attendance numbers are in. About 400,000 fewer people visited this year.
Local perspective:
Council members asked about other attendance concerns as well.
"Was there any discount programs for Dallas residents or the surrounding community or any effort to make it more affordable for those closest to us?" Councilman Adam Bazaldua asked.
"We’ve worked with nonprofits in the area before to give them admission tickets to use within the community to allow them that access without the barrier for the admission price," Karissa Condoianis, Senior Vice President, Public Relations said. "We actually gave more tickets into the south Dallas Fair Park community to allow them to come to the fair this year."
"The number one common answer I got was we couldn't afford it and I think it's a lot of circumstances there," Bazaldua continued.
The Source: Information from this story came from State Fair of Texas officials during a Dallas City Council Meeting.