SPRINGFIELD, IL (IRN) – The people who run the Illinois State Fair are taking a victory lap, with 2012’s attendance the highest in ten years.

An estimated 918,875 showed up during the eleven-day run, which ended Sunday. That compares to 815,000, the 2011 estimate. The eleven days include the Preview Night the evening of the Twilight Parade, which this year was Thursday, August 9.

“Everyone was stuck in their house all July,” Fair manager Amy Bliefnick said in praising this year’s weather, with mostly comfortable conditions and little rain. “The fact that they could come out, have fun, stay, visit – the biggest high (of the fair) was just the people, seeing all of them.”

Bliefnick also credited the popularity of grandstand headliners Eric Church and Miranda Lambert.