The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority transported more than 218,000 people to the Iowa State Fair this year, rebounding from 2021, a year where numbers were down coming off 2020 when the fair was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. According to data supplied by DART, 218,184 people rode DART buses from the state Capitol, Southeast Polk High School and the Center Street Park and Ride to the fairgrounds. Officials with DART noted on their social media that the 218,184 who rode DART to the fair is the equivalent of 54,546 cars, if there were four people per car. Last year, 141,050 rode DART to the fair. In 2019, that number was 253,217, which corresponded to record attendance that year. More than 231,000 rode the bus to the fairgrounds in 2018, and 228,774 rode DART to the State Fair in 2017. The fair continued its 20-plus year streak of topping 1 million attendance this year, with 1,118,763 people attending the fair, the fourth-highest on record. Fair attendance in 2021 was 1,094,480, and in 2019 attendance was 1,170,375, which set an all-time record, breaking the previous record of 1,130,260 set in 2018.