His crowd equaled that of Giuliani earlier in the week:

Mobbed by voters at the Iowa State Fair, Fred Thompson on Friday showed off the advantages he would enjoy as a celebrity latecomer to the 2008 Republican presidential campaign.
“A lot of people say it’s late and all that, but I look at my history books and see where people announced in September, October, November,” said the former Tennessee senator, who did not seem concerned that making his candidacy official sometime after Labor Day, as he is expected to do, might be late in the game.
[…]
At the fair, he was the fourth star-powered candidate to appear in three days, and he drew at least as large a gathering as Giuliani had two days earlier.

It appears that the Gucci loafers didn’t bother them.