Kansas State Fair officials say rainy weather and a sluggish economy brought attendance to a 16-year low, excluding 2001 after the September 11th attacks. About 3 inches of rain fell on the last Friday of the fair.

Meanwhile Kansas State Fair officials may ask the state for $200,000 to cover a potential doubling of its annual electric bill. Officials said Thursday the annual fair in Hutchinson uses its peak energy during the September event fair. Through the other 11 months of the year, it uses only about a fourth of the peak.

Westar sets the fair's electric rate by its peak.