2025 fair nears attendance record; Saturday’s turnout topped 30K
Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 7, 2025
The 2025 Grays Harbor County Fair set high expectations for entertainment while highlighting all the trappings of a traditional county fair. Near record attendance confirmed its success while setting a standard for the future.
Free entry to the car races sponsored by Grays Harbor Raceway with paid admission to the fair was appreciated by fans and all races were supported with good crowds.
Mike Bruner, Grays Harbor Fairgrounds, events and tourism director, credits the fair’s recent growth to investing in high quality performers as headliners for the nightly main stage entertainment and “giving adults and younger 21-plus adults another reason to come to the fair and has really been key to boosting attendance.”
Headliner Dylan Marlowe performed Friday night on the Pepsi stage followed on Saturday night by popular Northwest ‘80s cover band Nite Wave. Nite Wave has opened for famed rocker Billy Idol on tour and had people dancing and singing along throughout the fairgrounds. Friday’s attendance broke the all-time Friday fair record by over 1,600 people according to fair records. Saturday’s turnout topped 30,000 people for the second time but missed the daily record.
The 2024 and 2025 Grays Harbor County Fairs are the only ones to surpass 80,000 attendees and last year’s Saturday crowd set an all time record at 31,871 fairgoers.
2025 Grays Harbor County Fair daily attendance
Wednesday July 30 — 12,196
Thursday July 31 — 14,302
Friday Aug. 1 — 24,407 (record)
Saturday. Aug. 2 — 30,519
Total: 81,424 (second highest all-time)
This year’s county fair missed the all-time attendance record by less than 900 people and while that is a positive for the fair it means a lot of effort by many others to make it all work.
Bruner graciously extolled praise to over 80 volunteers.
“They handle the glitches that inevitably come along with that many visitors, that many moving parts,” he said. “The fair team just comes together every year and makes it happen. I also can’t thank our local sponsors enough, without them this couldn’t happen.”
