Record crowds flock to the State Fair

VISITORS to the International State Fair will have to do battle with huge crowds as record numbers this year have surpassed all expectations.

According to an announcement from the State Fair Authority yesterday, "the number of visitors to the 25th International State Fair has since risen significantly since its opening."

An authority official told the Cyprus Mail that approximately 45,000 people had visited the fair in its first three days alone, a 12 per cent rise on last year’s figures.

Typically, the annual event attracts about 150,000 visitors, including both the general public and professional traders.

The fair providing an opportunity to view a wide variety of consumer and industrial goods and plays a vital role in promoting local trade.

This year, more than 40,000 square metres of exhibition space have been covered with 1,500 company exhibitions from Cyprus and 34 other countries.

Also, in honour of its 25th anniversary, the Fair this year features a series of entertainment events, including recitals by top Cypriot and Greek singers, performances by dance groups and children’s shows.

The Fair, which opened last Friday, will be open until Sunday June 4, from 6pm to 11pm on weekdays and Sunday, and until midnight on Saturday.

Entrance is £2 for adults and £1 for students and pensioners, while foreign businessmen, card-carrying large families and visitors with invitations get in free.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.