Calgary Stampede attendance declines slightly for 2nd season running

The final attendance numbers for this year’s Calgary Stampede are in, and the 10 days of fun, known as “The Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth,” came up a bit short of last year.

Stampede organizers say 1,411,954 walked through the gates of the Stampede this year — that’s down about 60,000 over last year’s total attendance of 1,470,288, which was also about 7,000 fewer than the all-time attendance record of 1,477,953 set in 2024.

Even though attendance was down this year, the executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, Shelia Taylor, says the event still “has a huge impact on downtown businesses.”

“It brings hotel stays, restaurants, and so many other business benefits — so it’s absolutely a wonderful time for our city,” Taylor added.

On Monday, the crowds of people dressed in cowboy hats and boots on the Stampede grounds were replaced by people dressed in work clothes and work boots as the operators of the midway, North American Midway Entertainment, prepare the rides for a trip up the QE2 to Edmonton for their next big event of the summer — K-Days, which runs from July 17 to 26 at the Edmonton ECPO Centre and Exhibition Grounds.

The company was offering a wage of $20 per hour for anyone who showed up for the day to help with the teardown.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.