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State Fair of Texas flirts with an attendance record heading into final weekend

Boosted by near-perfect weather and a renewed focus on attracting first-time visitors, the 2015 State Fair of Texas is poised to set an attendance record. Fair officials hope a strong final weekend will put them over the top.

"People started coming early and they never stopped," said Mitchell Glieber, the State Fair's president. "We kept thinking, 'Are we going to hit a wall at some point?' And we haven't hit it yet."

The sunny weather has been almost too sunny. A string of 90-degree days resulted in more visitors than usual being treated for dehydration or heat exhaustion.

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"Our [ambulance] folks have earned their money," Glieber said. "It's been about 10 degrees warmer than we'd like it to be. But we'll take it over rain any day."

With afternoon temperatures in the low 80s this weekend, and a handful of big events still to come, officials are optimistic. Those events include a new craft beer festival at the Cotton Bowl, beef and dairy cattle shows, and musical performances by MercyMe, Jay Perez and Emilio.

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The State Fair closes at 11 p.m. Sunday.

The fair does not measure attendance in bodies; it counts the number of fair coupons sold. Last year, more than 42 million coupons were sold, a record.

Fair operations have been smooth this year, Glieber said. No conflagrations of Big Tex, no steers loose on the Midway.

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Extra water stations were added because of the heat, and one gate was reconfigured to accommodate record traffic arriving via DART train. One fair worker was taken to a hospital Monday when she was struck by a wheel that fell off the Crazy Mouse roller coaster. The worker was treated and released.

In addition to the weather, Glieber credited marketing efforts targeting first-time fairgoers with helping drive attendance.

"A lot of the folks that are moving into the area are transplants. They didn't grow up going to the State Fair of Texas," he said. "We feel like once we get them to come to the fair and experience it, we'll make lifelong fairgoers out of them."

Gabriel and Aubrey Neargarder of Garland were certainly impressed. The two middle-schoolers made their first visit on Thursday night, using free tickets they got at school.

"It was awesome," said Aubrey, an eighth-grader.

Fueled by a slushie-and-ice-cream sugar rush, and bouncing from Midway ride to Midway ride, they danced and snapped photos of the fireworks and watched a colorful pop dance troupe.

Gabriel, a seventh-grader, was asked if he planned to return next year.

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"Oh yeah, definitely," he said.

Hal Peterson, 66, has returned every fall for 48 years.

A volunteer with the Starlight Parade, Peterson has spent every night of the past three weeks helping prepare dinners for the 75-plus people who put on the procession each evening. In years past, he's been a float driver and a parade organizer.

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"It's an adventure. It takes me back to being a kid," he said of the fair.

His fellow volunteers, he said, make him feel each autumn like he's returned home.

"It's all I've ever known," he said. "It's kind of like having a three-week family reunion."

By the end, he's worn out, he said. But the feeling won't last long.

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"Give me about a month," he said, "and I'll be looking at the calendar."