SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — This past February, Governor Kathy Hochul proposed doubling admission and parking prices for the New York State Fair in her State Budget, and on May 1, she and state lawmakers made that proposal permanent.
Tickets will now be $6 for adults instead of $3 and $10 per vehicle for parking instead of $5. This price increase brings ticket prices back to around what they used to be before they were lowered during the pandemic.
Since 2005, ticket prices were $6 for advance-sale tickets and $10 at the gate. It was in 2020 that the NYS Fair dropped its prices to $3, which was the lowest price since 1990. Although this price increase is more than pandemic prices, it isn’t the highest it’s ever been, rather in the middle range of NYS Fair admission prices of the past.
The State Fair is also increasing fees for those who rent spaces for concessions and non-fair events by 1.5% for the 2023 fair.
The increase comes from State officials blaming pandemic-related declines in attendance for financial losses over the past three years, as the fair saw over half a million fewer guests in 2021 than in 2019.
The Governor’s Office reminds New Yorkers the new $6 admission is less than the $10 charged in 2019 and is far less than comparable state fairs and the Erie County Fair near Buffalo.
- Texas State Fair: $15 adults
- Minnesota State Fair: $17 adults
- Iowa State Fair: $14 adults
- Big E (New England): $15 adults
- Arizona State Fair: $15 adults
- Washington State Fair: $14 (weekdays) & $17 (weekends)
