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MISSOULA - If you braved the crowds at the Western Montana Fair last week, then it's probably comes as no surprise that attendance was up this year.

But Fair Director Steve Earle said the numbers are even larger than they expected. The overall attendance took a 45% jump, with 71,946 people taking in the fair. That's compared to 2009, when attendance was 49,500.

Earle said they had projected to hit 60,000 people and were thrilled to see that number climb even higher.

Likewise, general admission increased 60% with 34,715 people passing through the gates. In 2009, that number was 21,502.

According to Earle, the demographic that saw the largest increase was senior citizens and the smallest was students. He said they are already working on ways to attract more teens and college kids next years.

Earle attributes the success to his hard-working staff, an aggressive marketing campaign and the addition of two sporting events. "Two events that were new that really got the phone calls were horse-racing and mutton-busting," he said. "They both had people coming out of the closet wanting more."

Horse racing fans welcomed back the races with open arms and set two records. The first was on Friday for the amount of beer sold and the second on Saturday for amount of cash fans bet on their horses.

Earle said he plans to make the 2011 Western Montana Fair bigger and better, and added that this year's success wouldn't have happened with out all the people who worked to pull it together.

"Many people were here for 10 days straight, working 20 hours a day and it's unbelievable how hard they worked. They really came out and did everything they could to help me from falling on my face my first year as Fair Director and I want to thank them all, " he said.