Sunshine boosts crowds at 10-day Stampede
Halfway through the Calgary Stampede, organizers say steamy city weather is contributing to strong attendance numbers.
Jennifer Booth, publicity manager for the Stampede, said organizers were pleased with the results six days into the 10-day festival.
“We’re slightly over halfway and we’re having a really great Stampede so far,” Booth said.
“We’re really happy that the weather has been fantastic. We’re an outdoor show so we’re really dependent on the weather.”
Good weather has historically been a huge contributor to strong attendance numbers, she said.
In the Stampede’s first six days, attendance was highest on Sunday, with 161,414 visitors strolling through the turnstiles, compared to 146,446 in 2013.
More than one million people turned out for the 2013 event, despite the major flooding experienced in Calgary in the weeks before.
Total attendance figures for the 2014 Stampede were 589,477 as of Tuesday, with numbers tracking to once again climb over a million for the 10-day event.
Booth said visitors seemed positive about the park’s new zones and layout changes, which were aimed at spacing Stampede events out across the park.
The three main new programs for 2014 have been well-received — the Triple B, Peking Acrobats and the Bell Adrenaline Ranch, she said.
Another popular attraction is the Agrium Western Event Centre, a $61-million facility that is making its Stampede debut.
The state-of-the-art building is earmarked for national and international equestrian and livestock competition, rodeos, agriculture education and exhibitions.
The Stampede’s all-time attendance record will be hard to match. That came during the 2012 centennial Stampede, which attracted 1.4 million visitors.
But Booth said the park’s “sweet spot” is actually a little less than that historic tally, so queues don’t grow too long and the grounds are not so crowded.
Booth said weekdays at the Stampede were usually quieter, with organizers expecting a strong finish on the weekend, with the chuckwagon and rodeo finals.
While the Stampede has been running smoothly, the arrest of two protesters on Friday and the death of a chuckwagon horse during training Tuesday morning have also made news.
Driver Tim Haroldson was also hospitalized Tuesday morning after he was thrown from a wagon during training.
Wednesday was Kids’ Day, with families packing the Stampede grounds. After watching a minidonkey demonstration and visiting the horses, Ricardo Cosentino, his wife and the couple’s 13-month-old son Gustavo beat the heat in a quiet, shady spot behind the midway on Wednesday.
It was young Gustavo’s fourth time at the grounds — the couple came
It’s going to be a record-breaker
RICARDO COSENTINO
three times last year with their then one-month-old.
Cosentino said the couple were impressed by how quickly the Stampede bounced back after the 2013 floods, and were happy to see the grounds bustling this year.
“It’s going to be a record-breaker,” Cosentino predicted.