Estimated 80,000 visited Zug Fair

The 47^th Zug Fair drew to a close last Sunday with organiser Peter Binggeli very pleased with the attendance figures. While these have not yet been confirmed, it appears some 80,000 people came to enjoy it all, the attendance matching that of last year.

In an interview with a journalist of the Zuger Zeitung, Binggeli (photograph) said he had been very pleased the fair here seemed to be bucking the trend when it came to visitor numbers. Hence he was very pleased and delighted with feedback from visitors.

When asked if the fair might become even bigger, he said no. Neither was he looking to make it any bigger. Indeed, as reported in yesterday’s Panorama article, one visitor said how much she enjoyed it all because it was not too big. What Binggeli said he was doing was focusing on quality and content and ensuring visitors being enthused by it all.

Apart from last weekend, the weather was very kind to the fair, but Binggeli mentioned how the fair was not actually dependent on good weather, though naturally warm and sunny days helped.

As to what he felt made a particularly lasting impression this year, he said it was the street-food market, which featured for the first time. “Bearing in mind its success, it will feature next year, too,” he announced.

When it was put to him that “not much seemed to be going on at the stands by the lake”, the organiser refuted this, saying it was a very subjective statement. “It was quiet at this location when we began to make use of this site ten years ago. Of course, it was a bit quieter there in the evenings as more is going on at the main site. If it really were less frequented, we would not get companies such as the Möbel Egger furniture store exhibiting there,” he said.

Commenting on the special exhibition by the guest canton of Argovia, he said it had been very interesting and always nice to have a neighbouring canton feature so prominently at the fair. Indeed, he took this opportunity to announce that next year another central Swiss canton, that of Uri, would be the guest canton next year.