The 2025 State Fair of Texas ended on October 19 and the numbers are in: According to a release, this year's attendance was an estimated 2 million people.
The exact figure was 2,020,064 — representing a decline in attendance from the past four years. Attendance peaked in 2022, those post-pandemic times when everyone was thrilled and grateful for an outdoor event.
The number confirms observations by fairgoers that attendance was down, which many blamed for increased prices for 2025, with ticket prices for entry climbing from $19 to $29 (up from $15-$25 in 2024) for adults and $14 to $24 (up from $10-$18) for kids, as well as steep prices for food.
State Fair officials did some damage control midway through the fair, stating that attendance traditionally climbs during the latter half of the event.
A comparison to attendance figures for prior years confirms the decline:
2024: Nearly 2.4 million — 2,385,855
2023: More than 2.3 million — 2,341,499
2022: More than 2.5 million — 2,547,289
2021: More than 2.2 million — 2,202,689
2020: No fair
2019: More than 2.5 million — 2,514,637
2018: More than 2 million — 2,049,118
2017: More than 2.2 million — 2,250,433
The busiest day of 2025 was Saturday, October 11, the day of TX-OU, with more than 193,000 fairgoers that day. That included more than 148,300 fans in attendance for the game at the (newly renovated) Cotton Bowl Stadium.
A crowd of 22,938 attended the first-ever women’s soccer match featuring Dallas Trinity FC and Club América Femenil at the Cotton Bowl, the largest attendance for a women’s professional sporting event in Texas.
The reason that most biopics fail is because they try to do too much, telling a “cradle-to-grave” story or one taking place over a long period of time that only scratches the surface of understanding the full measure of a particular person. A better approach is the one taken in the new film Tony, which uses a formative period of time in the life of Anthony Bourdain to identify a larger truth about him.
The film finds Tony (Dominic Sessa), as he liked to be known at the time, in his early college years, trying to BS his way through life. He tells lies to professors, his parents (Dagmara Dominczyk and Rich Sommer), his old classmate Nancy (Emilia Jones), and even himself in an attempt to skate by without actually doing anything.
When one con falls through, he follows Nancy to Provincetown, Massachusetts to try to find her. A series of events result in him getting drunk in a restaurant owned by a chef (Antonio Banderas), who takes him in. Tony starts working as a dishwasher and hanging out with Sal (Leo Woodall), who barely has his own act together. With no other options, he spends his summer on Cape Cod, hoping something will happen to change his lot in life.
Written and directed by Matt Johnson (Blackberry) and co-written by three others, the film gives barely a hint of the man who would go on to become a celebrity chef and acclaimed author. It does indicate that his brashness was always there, but this Tony is aimless and too often rash in his decision-making. His biggest success in the film only comes when he finally recognizes that lying has brought him nothing but misery, and that telling the truth, even if it’s painful, sets him free.
The restaurant at which Tony works, the now-defunct The Flagship, is the heartbeat of the film, containing a motley crew of people who bond over slinging mostly mediocre seafood. Johnson evolves Tony’s relationship with the chef (who’s never given a proper name) into a strong one as Tony spends each night in a hammock on the chef’s porch, only to be woken up each morning with a pot of water thrown in his face.
Tony continues to pursue Nancy for most of the film, and even though their relationship is not fruitful in terms of storytelling, it serves to enforce the mindset of the young man. Nancy only exists as an object of desire for Tony, with just the barest touch of an interior life of her own. While the intent of including a romantic interest for Tony makes sense in a way, it ultimately is the weakest part of the film.
Sessa, who made a bold film debut in 2023’s The Holdovers, has turned into one of the industry’s bright young stars. He embodies the moodiness of Bourdain, stalking around the town with a scowl and lanky walk that tells the audience everything they need to know about the character. Banderas and Woodall (Tuner) bring different types of great energy, and while Jones’ part is not great, she proves that - following CODA - she’s going to be around for a long time, as well.
Fans of Bourdain may lament that Tony doesn’t show anything from the years in which he became famous, but the small and personal film makes a great case that the period it depicts is equally significant to his life. It demonstrates that Tony’s summer on Cape Cod gave him some direction, a reason for being that allowed him to become who he eventually became.
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Tony will screen seven times at Magnolia at the Modern in Fort Worth, September 11-13.
