in time and the 2017 fair was held as scheduled. In 2017, the fair celebrated 30 years of the “Giant Wheel” ferris wheel, which is part of the Strates Shows traveling midway. The Giant Wheel continues to serve as a main icon of the fair, towering over the Strates Shows midway annually. On August 19th, 2018 the attendance for the 179th Erie County Fair was just shy of 1.2 million visitors. This is the second highest attendance in fair history, behind the 2014 fair. On August 18th, 2019 the attendance for the 180th Erie County Fair set the all time attendance record at 1,238,456 visitors which broke the previous record set back in 2014. The 180th Erie County Fair showed no signs of slowing down for future years, as attendance was up nearly 18,000 more visitors from the previous year of the fair. The 2019 fair featured new rides to commemorate the 95th anniversary with midway provider Strates Shows. The show featured new rides such as, the Frisbee, the Crazy Mouse roller coaster, and the legendary Sky Wheel which the show hasn’t featured in over 20 years. The 181st Erie County Fair was originally set to run August 12-23rd, 2020, but postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 181st fair will be held the following year from August 11-22, 2021. The postponement of the 2020 Erie County Fair marks only the second time since 1841 that the Fair has been cancelled. During World War II, the 1943 Fair was cancelled to support the patriotic rationing of gasoline and other vital wartime commodities. The fair returned the following year to record breaking attendance. Locations of Erie County Fair Erie County Fairgrounds The Erie County Fairgrounds is a fair, horse racing, and convention complex located in Hamburg, NY, that has hosted the annual Erie County Fair since 1868. Facilities Buildings and Grounds  275 Acres  112 permanent buildings and structures, the oldest of which is the Octagon Building (1885)  showplex  4 green parks (Baker, Slade, Fries, Hickory Tree) Buffalo Raceway The Buffalo Raceway is a renowned horse race venue known primarily for harness racing. James J. Dunnigan, a resident of Hamburg in New York was responsible for the opening of the raceway as far back as June 1942. This entrepreneur chose Hamburg’s Erie County Fairgrounds to be the location of his project, which he undertook after the