The 2024 Salem Fair closed out its 12-day run on Sunday night. Officials said the 36th edition of the fair was another success, although the often-oppressive heat certainly affected several outcomes.
“In 2023, we had to deal with the wildfire smoke from Canada and this year it was an extended streak of extremely hot days and nights,” said Carey Harveycutter, Salem Fair manager. “We experienced several really incredible attendance days this year, but the heat certainly made it tough.”
Harveycutter said opening night revenues were up about 20% and the first weekend of the fair saw considerable gains over 2023, with July 6 and 7 resulting in jam-packed midways. However, the Independence Day opening was delayed by a rare July rain shower and then thunderstorms forced the fair to close about three hours early on July 5.
“You cannot control the weather and when it’s hot the crowds tend to arrive later, which in turn hurts food sales for our outstanding concessionaires,” he said. “In addition, our donations for our featured non-profits declined this year.”
Canned food donations for the Salem-Roanoke County Food Pantry were down 1,000 pounds and sock donations for the Rescue Mission and Mrs. Dorsey’s Community Clothes Closet were off by 500 pairs. Last year more than 2,500 pairs of socks were donated along with a record 4,723 pounds of food.
“We greatly appreciate all the folks who continue to support the Salem Fair, and despite the heat we saw plenty of smiling faces this year,” Wendy Delano, Salem’s director of civic facilities said. “Carey and I are very proud of the employees who worked through some incredibly adverse conditions to make sure everything was ready when the gates opened each and every day,”
While the midway heat may have been extreme, the air-conditioned comfort of the Salem Civic Center arena proved to be just the ticket for many, officials said. The Blue-Ribbon exhibit section was back in the arena for the third straight year, and it once again saw increases in both exhibits and participants. Exhibitors entered 1,345 items in a variety of competitive categories ranging from painting to pickling.
For the second straight year, Salem Police leaders said they did not experience any major incidents on the fairgrounds.
The 2025 Salem Fair is set for July 2-13.
-The Salem Times-Register
Photos by Brian Hoffman
