Organizers of the Western Fair are deeming the ten-day event a success, although they won't be releasing this year's attendance numbers.
The move marks the first time since the fair's inception that officials won't disclose how many people took in the sights and sounds of the annual event.
"We actually tried to stop that practice a couple of years ago," says Kris Dinel, Western Fair manager. "We measure our event based on a number of factors, attendance just happens to be one of them. Focusing solely on attendance, we feel, does not make sense."
In an interview with Blackburn News prior to the start of the 141st fair, Dinel said an average of 190,000 people passed through the fair's turnstiles over the past five years. That's far cry from the 448,000 people the fair drew in at its height in 1976.
Stressing that times have changed, Dinel says they look at the entire fair experience before determining whether it was successful.
"Our three primary metrics would be safety, did we have a safe, enjoyable fair? Second, would be customer experience. Did our customers have a positive time while they were here? Third, agricultural education, specifically our school tour program."
In an effort to revamp the fair and battle declining attendance, a three year plan focusing on families was set into motion last year. It saw the creation of Imagination Park and a new midway provider. But this year's fair also had to contend with Country Music Week and Airshow London.
"Traditionally the last day of the fair is one of the biggest days and it was jammed packed here. It would be really hard to say whether there was any impact from the airshow," says Dinel.
More than 22,000 people flocked to London's first airshow in 12 years on Sunday. The number was a welcome surprise for Airshow London organizers who were forced to cancel Saturday's performance due to poor weather conditions.
"That was the type of number we were looking for over two days, so to have that type of traffic on a single day was overwhelming," says Jim Graham chair of Airshow London. "We had people here from as far away as Tennessee and Montreal."
Nearly 100 volunteers worked throughout the night Saturday to make changes to the grounds to accommodate the additional crowds on Sunday.
"There were some lineups at the vendors and a little more traffic trying to get in and out of the airport but all of the folks attending were very understanding," says Graham. "They got that we wanted to make sure we honoured those Saturday tickets and that there were going to be some inconveniences that they normally wouldn't have had to experience."
Preparations for Airshow London 2017 began several months ago, according to Graham.
"2017 is the 150th anniversary of Confederation so it's going to be a very exciting time for the military," says Graham. "We think we will be putting on a show that raises the bar even higher than this years."
Next year's airshow is scheduled for the first weekend after Labour Day.