The manager of the North Dakota Horse Park says it was a successful year for horse racing in Fargo.
Mike Schmitz says despite having to take a year off of races at the horse park, and competing with a couple of other community events - attendance at the races was higher than it was in 2014.
"Per day, we'd average 2,565. Per day average in 2014 was 2,253 so about 300 more per day. From what we went up against that first weekend with the fair going on, the street fair, lots of events - it was arguably the busiest weekend of the summer, and we were still able to get a lot of fans out. People wanted racing back."
Schmitz says he is excited to see results of an economic impact statement being prepared by the extension service at NDSU about the effects of the North Dakota Horse Park on Fargo.
"It'll be good to try and quantify what we do mean to the community and the industry. We know it's significant - there's a lot of things that people don't realize that go into planning a race meet. It will be great to see what we put back into the community."
Schmitz says the Horse Park needs to make sure to go through the application process for dates for next summer by October. He says they may consider adding a couple more days to the race meet schedule.