Calgary Stampede attendance tops 500,000 for the first weekend

The Calgary Stampede has taken over the city and visitors are here for it as over half a million people checked it out on the first weekend.

The attendance for the first Friday broke a Stampede record for the first day with 164,939 people walking through the turnstiles.

A healthy contingent of that herd likely checked in on the Vance Joy show at the Coke Stage on Friday night with the crowd shoulder to shoulder, spilling out into the midway.

@swoozewithdauziall for the riptied guy♬ kids – ilybyxrsꨄ

There was also a massive lineup to check out DJ Diesel (aka Shaquille O’Neal) at the Big Four while even more people were headed to the dome to see Pitbull.

Overall, 516,999 went to the Stampede on the first weekend.

Attendance for the first weekend of the Calgary Stampede breaks down as:

Thursday: 35,747
Friday: 164,939
Saturday: 138,781
Sunday: 177,532

It was a record-breaking weekend for more than one reason. On Sunday, the Stampede shattered the record for most pancakes served in an eight-hour timeframe.

The Stampede breakfast on Family Day handed out 17,182 pancakes, breaking the record by almost 3,000!

If you are still making plans to head to the Stampede this week there are a couple of free days to help keep it in the budget.

Be sure you keep cool, there is a heat warning for the city for today so drink lots of water. No, beer and coffee don’t count.