This year's PNE drew more than 626K people, highest post-pandemic attendance

The PNE Fair wrapped up for the summer on Monday, after two weeks of concerts, fair food and thrill rides. And official numbers released Tuesday revealed that the annual fair is getting closer to reaching its pre-pandemic attendance levels.

Organizers said 626,531 people went to the PNE this year, almost 100,000 more than last year, and more than double the attendees at 2021’s scaled-down festivities.

Which makes sense, because this year’s was the first PNE since 2019 without capacity limits, which were put in place in 2021 and again in 2022. 

2023’s tally is still 100,000 short of the final pre-pandemic PNE, when more than 730,000 showed up to the fair.

“Overall, the 2023 fair was a tremendous success,” PNE president and CEO Shelley Frost said in a news release Tuesday. “The combination of new attractions, the Summer Night Concerts lineup and traditional favourites really resonated with our guests this year.”

According to the PNE, fair-goers drank a total of 40,000 slushies and 112,000 special-edition “Coaster Crush” beers, and munched on 12,000 spiralled potato sticks, 10,200 corn cobs and 6,000 racks of ribs this year.

At the midway, 120,000 moles got whacked, 315,000 rings were tossed and over 275,000 prizes went home with winners.

Labour Day was also the last hurrah for the 59-year-old PNE Amphitheatre, which is set to be demolished in the coming months. It will be replaced with a new, covered venue that’s expected to open in 2026.

The draw for this year’s PNE Prize Home takes place on Monday, Sept. 11.