Rain Couldn’t Stop The Western Montana Fair From Thriving

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Last week’s Western Montana Fair set several new records, both for attendance and sales, according to Billie Brown, the fair’s Events and Operations Manager.

Brown said Thursday’s all-day soaking rain kept the fair from setting a new attendance record.

Thursday's Rain at the Fair Kept it from Setting New Attendance Records

“Thursday, as some might remember, started out with rain and it never stopped,” began Brown. “So even though we completely lost one day to rain, our numbers stayed the same as 2024 with 3,000 fewer visits for the year.”

Despite Thursday’s rain, Brown said fair revenue was thousands of dollars higher than 2024.

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The Rain did not Keep Fair-goers from Spending a Record Amount of Money

“The rest of our numbers look really amazing,” she said. “Our carnival sales are up by $20,000, our revenue from the bar sales is up by $10,000 and our revenue from commercial vendors is also up $20,000 but the most important stat to me is the fact that we had so many more exhibits than we've had in such a long time.”

Brown said Fair Food Vendors had to Replenish Their Supplies at Local Stores

Brown said the food vendors were kept busy purchasing more inventory from nearby grocery stores to feed the demand.

“You know, we had a few thousand fewer people, but they ended up staying almost three hours,” she said. “The only number I can't give you yet is the food sales, and I suspect that that's going to be very high, because we had some vendors sell out. It was always nip and tuck, if everybody was going to make it through the entire fair. People were always running to the store. Every year we plan for how much food we need, but then we end up needing more.”

Brown said the carnival again did record business, despite Thursday’s continuous rain.

“They (the carnival) did exceptional business Thursday where it rained,” she said. “They said that even that Thursday was one of the best Thursdays in the nation for them. They estimated we lost $80,000 (in carnival revenue) that day, but we still broke our record from last year, which was already a record breaking year. They said if it had not rained on Thursday, we would have had a million dollar fair, no doubt.”

Brown said Saturday's 4-H Livestock Sale Also Set New Records

Brown added that the Saturday 4-H livestock sale broke records as well.

“The livestock sale looks to be up $30,000 over last year, another record breaking statistic that is a huge measurement on the success of the fair, how those buyers come and engage and give support to the 4-H youth as they sell (their animals). It was a big number that is the highest it's ever been.”

Fair officials were anticipating nearly 200,000 visitors, weather permitting.

Brown mentioned that there may be changes to next year’s fair, stretching it out over two weekends instead of just one, but that is still under consideration.