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Attendance hits all-time high at the street fair

Posted at 3:54 PM, Apr 03, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-03 20:29:22-04

The crowds cleared out by 6:00 p.m. on Sunday for the last day of the Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair. The massive three-day event has brought hundreds of thousands of people to downtown Tucson to experience the unique booths and delicious food. 

The more than 400 arts and crafts booths and more than 35 food vendors brought out a record number of people this year.

Before this event started, organizers told KGUN9 - they expected roughly 320,000 people to attend over the course of three days. Now, they said it could be up to 360,000 people.

But, since the street fair does not require tickets to help calculate attendance, KGUN9 wondered - how do they actually come up with these numbers?

Apparently, it is all off of two very interesting things: ATM transactions and toilet paper usage. 

"Statistically, every man, woman and child that comes to the street fair uses the restroom twice," explained Event Director for Fourth Avenue Merchants Kurt Tallis. "And so, we can also measure gallons and you know, I know it sounds - I know it sounds odd, but it is a true measurement and sometimes it's the best way to do it instead of actually, you know, counting people."
 
The Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair is the next big event downtown. That happens in December.