This year's Iowa State Fair is below last year's attendance records so far. Last year, nearly 311,000 people attended the fair in the first three days. Records this year show there've been an estimated attendance of just under 302,000. The 2018 edition of the Iowa State Fair started last Thursday and runs through Sunday, August 19th. In the 11 days of the fair last year, over 1.1 million people attended.