Calgary Stampede Breaks Single-Day Attendance Record

The heat doesn’t seem to be affecting attendance at the Calgary Stampede.

More than 201,000 people visited Stampede Park on Sunday for Tim Horton’s Family Day, the highest number of visitors ever in a single day.

The previous single-day record was set in 2012, when more than 184,000 people attended the Stampede to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

This year, more than half a million people have already visited the Stampede.

More than 161,000 visitors flooded Stampede Park on opening day, falling short of the record of 164,939 set the year before. That day also holds the record for the second-most attended day at the Stampede.

On the second day, 135,645 visitors were added, bringing the total over the two days to 337,547.

This follows the Stampede Parade to mark the start of the festivities, which the Stampede said set a record with more than 350,000 attendees.

A heat warning first issued on Sunday by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is this is expected to last most of the weekAccording to the agency, extremely high temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees are expected until at least midweek, combined with night-time lows of 14 degrees Celsius or higher.

Stuart Brideaux, public information officer for Calgary EMS, says it’s important for people planning to go out in the heat to prepare by drinking plenty of fluids, wearing sunscreen and getting out of the heat occasionally.

With files from Alejandro Melgar