The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - The Ohio State Fair drew record crowds this year and is expected to break even, but fair officials said they will shorten it by five days next year.

The reasons? Cutting overhead costs, reducing conflicts with other fairs and competition from mid-Ohio concerts.

Attendance at this year's fair, which ended Sunday, was 1,011,331 visitors, including 707,997 paid visitors, said fair spokeswoman Christina Minier.

The previous record for attendance was 980,819 visitors in 2000.

Minier said the fair should at least break even fiscally but that exact figures won't be available until vendors finish sorting through receipts.

She said that next year the fair will be cut to 12 days from the current 17-day run. The 2004 fair will run Aug. 4-15.

Minier said the decision to shorten the fair came after several years of research and consultation with vendors and ride operators.

Fair officials said they won't reduce the entertainment budget in order to pack an equal number of activities into a shorter time period. Stage breaks between live attractions will be shortened and stages could stay open later, Minier said.

The change should also cut overhead costs and attract more vendors and amusement operators by reducing conflicts with other fairs, she said.

General Manager Rick Frenette said competition was another major factor in the change.

He estimated the fair competed against 40 concerts in central Ohio during the past 21/2 weeks. He said the 10,000-seat Celeste Center was filled only once, for the group Mercy Me.

In Indianapolis, the Indiana State Fair didn't even need its big final-day crowd Sunday to break the attendance record it set just last year.

The crowd count passed that record on Saturday and continued on to reach 878,114 for the full 12-day run of the 2003 event, fair officials said.

It was the fifth time in the last six years that the Indiana State Fair has set an attendance record, and this year's mark was about 10 percent higher than that reached for the 2002 fair.