The Great New York State Fair is one of the biggest events of the summer. People flood the State Fairground in Syracuse for weeks of fair food, rides, and, of course, the free concerts. But fairgoers in 2023 may find a big change when it comes time to buy their tickets.

Last year’s concert series boasted the biggest show in Fair history – rapper Nelly performed to more than 43,000 fans at Chevy Park. ‘90s R&B icons TLC also brought out 30k+. Despite these massive crowds, 2022 was the third straight year the Fair has lost money for New York.

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With Governor Hochul releasing the new 2023-2024 budget, its estimated that an extra $7.1 million dollars would be lost from this year’s Fair before it’s even started. So a solution has been proposed to alleviate a burden on taxpayers – a significant hike in ticket price.

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Governor Hochul’s office has proposed doubling ticket prices and on-site parking cost in the $227 billion budget. In 2022, parking was $5 per car, so that would be $10 for this year’s Fair. Ticket prices for anyone 13 and older would increase from $3 to $6 for tickets bought online. . Fair fans might not be the only people paying a bigger price; the budget also proposes a 1.5% hike on prices for vendors that attend.

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Of course, this isn’t the first time fair attendees would be paying this amount for tickets. Advance tickets were $6 for the 2019 Fair and $10 at the gate. Prices were slashed in 2021 for the first post-pandemic State Fair, which had a dramatic falloff in attendance.

The price increase is currently only a suggestion from the Governor’s Office. The New York Department of Agriculture and Markets would have the final say on whether the new, doubled prices would be instituted.

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