Almost 1.5M people attended this year's Calgary Stampede

It was the greatest of all the Greatest Outdoor Shows on Earth attendance-wise, Calgary Stampede officials said Monday.

According to the daily update, the organization said 1,477,953 people visited the grounds during the last 10 days, an all-time record for the event.

Attendance on Sunday was 146,673 while the busiest day on the grounds was on July 7, Family Day.

Staff said 201,260 people visited the grounds that day, which was also a record-breaker for single-day attendance.

The previous annual attendance record was set in 2012 when 1,409,371 guests visited Stampede Park.

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"Calgary has come out in full force and truly embraced the community spirit and western hospitality behind our annual celebration, both on and off Stampede Park, and we are so grateful for that," said Will Osler, president and chair of the Calgary Stampede board of directors in a news release.

Stampede CEO Joel Cowley said the high attendance numbers is great to see, but it's also uplifting to see how well the event was received by guests.

"There's no doubt that our fan-favourite experiences such as Indigenous culture, concerts, rodeo, chuckwagon racing, agriculture, art, and fireworks continue to be a huge draw for our guests, but there's also a sense of intrigue being generated by our new programming as well as our new spaces – the Sam Centre and the BMO Centre," he said.

According to guest experience surveys, the overall rating was back to pre-pandemic levels, with 69 per cent of guests saying their experience was "excellent."

Haven Meged, left, of Miles City, Montana, celebrates winning the tie down roping finals at the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alta., Sunday, July 14, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

The Rangeland Derby, rodeo and Grandstand Show were the highest rated events, the Stampede said, with the rodeo and evening show seeing an average 93 per cent capacity.

In 2023, 1,384,632 people visited Stampede Park, now the third-highest attended event.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce says the wide variety and amount of Stampede-related events on and off the grounds helped showcase the city.

"I had fun, I'm going to tell my friends, I'm going to tell people at my company, I'm coming back next year ... we heard that a lot," said Deborah Yedlin, president of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

"It's become a really big business networking opportunity."

She says that includes private equity firms bringing some of their portfolio to Calgary.

"It's efficient. Everyone's here, everyone is captive for 10 days and you can do so much in terms of entertaining. There's so many options," she said.

The Chamber says many outsiders who come here might consider booking for future conventions or setting up a business here. The new BMO centre, renovations of the Glenbow Museum, Arts Commons and new event centre are attractive, too.

"People are excited about what's on the horizon and they want to be back to be part of it," Yedlin said.