Suck It, Dallas: The Rodeo Outdraws The State Fair

​The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo was the nation's biggest fair in 2009, an industry publication has declared.

Carnival Warehouse, which sounds like the kind of place that has cheap late-night advertising for kuh-waaazy prices on merry-go-rounds, but is actually a publication that tracks the fair industry, said the Rodeo had the top attendance in 2009.

"Surging to the top spot on the list this year was the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with a record-breaking attendance of 1,890,332, an increase of  percent," it reported. "They gained the number one spot for the first time, succeeding the perennial #1, Texas State Fair, which was hampered by rain."

"Hampered by rain"? More like "hampered by not having Darius Rucker or Rascal Flatts in the line-up"!!!! (Note: We do not want to check for the depressing possibility that both acts did, indeed, also appear at the State Fair last year.)

Carnival Warehouse estimated the State Fair attendance at 1,818,825.

It wasn't that great a year overall for fairs, apparently:
 

The Illinois State Fair, Mississippi State Fair, Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition (FL) California State Fair, Texas State Fair and Arizona State Fair all posted double digit declines in 2009, largely due to weather.

Illinois, Texas and Mississippi were especially hampered by downpours and the Mississippi State Fair was even held over an additional day to try and gain some lost ground.

Stop harping on the weather, Carnival Warehouse.

We're telling you -- it's all a matter of the Darius Rucker Difference. (Note: We again choose not to investigate the admitted likelihood that Darius Rucker appeared at every fair with more than two dozen attendees this year.)