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Record attendance at 2016 San Diego County Fair

Posted at 9:11 AM, Jul 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-05 12:11:34-04

It was a record-breaking run for the 2016 San Diego County Fair, as 1,609,481 people attended the 26-day event in Del Mar.

Fair officials said the day with the highest attendance was July 3, with 96,501 people coming through. That date is among the top four attendance dates in Fair history, officials added.

Other noteworthy numbers from this year's San Diego County Fair, which ran from June 3-July 4:

-- 67th annual Livestock Auction: raised $432,031 for 4-H and FFA youth
-- 2016 San Diego International Beer Festival welcomed 8,500 guests over the three-day event
-- 2016 Toast of the Coast Wine Competition and Festival entertained 926 guests at two tasting sessions during the one-day event
-- 2016 Distilled: Spirit and Cocktail Festival welcomed 1,033 guests at the one-day event

The Fair's "food facts":

-- Dixie's Donuts fried more than 188,000 mini donuts
-- Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls used 15,000 pounds of cinnamon roll flour, and three tons of cinnamon and sugar to make their famous pastries. Those tasty rolls were covered with 1,500 pounds of cream cheese frosting and 360 pounds of walnuts. Country Fair also served more than 1,000 cinnamon roll sundaes. Fairgoers savored their dessert by enjoying 500 pounds of organic coffee flavored with 52 cases of vanilla and hazelnut creamer
-- Corn Star grilled 50,000 ears of corn
-- Pink's sold more than 20,800 hot dogs
-- Australian Battered Potatoes used more than 14,000 pounds of potatoes, 8,400 pints of oil, 240 gallons of ranch dressing, 60 cases of cheese sauce, 200 pounds of bacon, and 150 pounds of sour cream. That translates to 4,000 buckets of potatoes, with the ranch, cheese and bacon offering as their best seller
-- Tasti Chips used 25 tons of California-grown potatoes for chips. The chips were topped with 17,000 orders of cheese sauce and 250 pounds of Parmesan garlic cheese. Tasti Chips also served 10,000 pounds of French Fries with 1,500 gallons of Heinz Ketchup and 720 gallons of Tapatio sauce. The chips and fries were fried in 1,000 gallons of 100 percent pure peanut oil
-- Bacon-A-Fair used more than 21,000 pounds of bacon this season in their various offerings. Their new French Toast Bacon Bombs used 15 gallons of maple syrup. Their new Bacon-Wrapped Baked Potatoes used 42 buckets of sour cream
-- Pignotti's sold well over 1,000 Pasta Salad Bread Bowls, and 1,500 Lasagna Sandwiches. Their seafood-loving customers snapped up 2,500 fish tacos and 2,000 Fish & Chips
-- Grilled Cheese A-Fair cooked 600 grilled cheese sandwiches every day – that's about 15,600 grilled cheese sandwiches, a 55 percent increase over 2015. Their top-selling grilled cheese sandwiches: Pulled Pork and Chicken & Waffle
-- Biggy's Meat Market sold two tons of Giant Big Ribs and eight tons of potatoes for fresh cut curly fries
-- Candy Factory went through two tons of ice for the Mad Hatter Monster Shaved Ice Crazy Cones and what seemed like an orchard of apples
-- Squeezers Lemonade squeezed more than 1,200 cases of lemonade and added three tons of sugar. And since lemonade is easily spilled, Squeezers went through four miles of roll napkins
-- Chicken Charlie's sold 10,000 "Chicken in the Waffle on A Stick," 2,000 orders of Shrimp Fried Rice and 7,000 pounds of Kool-Aid Hot Wings
-- 400 pounds of Sweet Pork and 2,250 pounds of pastrami were toppings for Grinders French fries (5,400 pounds of fries, to be exact) in their sandwiches. Grinders also went through 400 pounds of cheese and 600 pounds of turkey breast. They sold 450 of the new "Angry Chicken Sandwich"
-- Juicy's sold more than 75,000 of their new all-natural, hormone free hamburgers – the "All American Bacon Cheeseburger," and the "Western Burger"

Other numbers:
-- 14,000 school children brought in their Plant *Grow* Eat radishes and other vegetables
-- Number of pieces of pie consumed at the Pie Eating Contest: 1,129
-- Number of babies entered in the three Baby Derby Contests: 29
-- Number of National Anthem singers at the daily Opening Ceremonies: 71
-- Number of Scout Troops that participated in the daily Flag Raising Ceremony at Opening Ceremonies: 130
-- Number of participants in the Flag Raising Program at Opening Ceremonies (Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Marines): 1,465
-- Number of kids learning magic at the Abra-Kid-Abra Magic Camp: 170
-- Number of participants in the Father/Child Lookalike Contest: 54
-- Number of pieces of bubble gum chewed in the Bubble Gum Blowing Contest: 239
-- Number of participants at the Three O'Clock Fun Contests: 1,050
-- Number of participants in the Best Dance Crew competition: 434
-- Number of participants in the In the Spotlight competition, youth division: 92
-- Number of participants in the In the Spotlight competition, teen division: 104
-- Number of participants in the Singer/Songwriter competition: 178
-- Number of bands in the Battle of the Bands competition: 56
-- Number of photos taken with the Fair Mascots: 1,602
-- Number of entertainment applications received: 755
-- Number of entertainment groups booked: 650