Kids enjoy the carnival games at Calgary Stampede.
After last year’s Calgary (Alta.) Stampede in the wake of devastating floods, this year’s event posted better attendance, and near-perfect weather and two sold-out concerts by Shania Twain helped numbers go up by 11.5 percent, to 1,263,428, over last year’s 1,133,050.
“That’s the second highest attendance ever, second to the centennial in 2012,” said publicity manager Jennifer Booth.
The 2012 attendance was 1,409,371.
Last year’s floods and subsequent damage to the Scotiabank Saddledome prompted the cancellation of four concerts – the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, KISS and Carly Rae Jepsen. All were rescheduled except Jepsen, Booth said.
This year, the Calgary Stampede hosted five concerts in the 13,000- 15,000-seat Saddledome, including two sold-out shows by Twain, a rare performance from the Canadian native who retired in 2004 and otherwise has appeared only at her exclusive, in-house gig at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas since 2012.
“It was definitely her first show in almost a decade other than in Las Vegas,” Booth said. “I believe it’s a launch of her doing a tour once her tenure in Las Vegas is finished. It was a pretty big deal that we were able to get her. She hasn’t done a concert outside of Vegas in almost a decade.”
Stampede Entertainment Inc., which does the booking for the Stampede, approached Twain about the performances, Booth added.
Shania Twain took a break from her Las Vegas residency to play Calgary Stampede.
Other concerts were by Canadian recording artist Paul Brandt, Keith Urban and Reba McEntire. Urban sold out and McEntire was a couple 100 tickets shy of a sellout, Booth added.
“For all intents and purposes, it was a sellout,” she said.
Adam Oppenheim, who books concerts at the Calgary Stampede, said the concerts were the result of an ongoing conversation with Twain’s management and the alignment of the stars. Fast ticket sales prompted the addition of a second concert.
“Tickets to Shania Twain’s July 9 performance sold out in four minutes,” he added. “We immediately announced a second performance for July 10, placed the show on sale 15 minutes later, and it was sold out within the first 30 minutes.”
Tickets for Twain began at $79, Booth said. Starting price for other tickets were McEntire, $39.90; Urban, $39.50; and Brandt, $29.99.
The Calgary Stampede does not release budget numbers, Booth added.
Farmland, Ind.-based North American Midway Entertainment placed 60 rides at the Calgary Stampede, said director of communications Amy Girton, and total ridership was up by 11 percent, in line with the attendance increase.
“New this year was the debut of the Great FUNtier, a new family area, located at the north end of the racetrack, alongside and in conjunction with the Agriculture Zone where 25 kiddie rides and numerous family-style games were featured,” she added.
Scooter Korek, vice president of client relations for NAME, said the area will be improved in 2015.
“Families enjoy a quiet area to ride coupled with family entertainment,” he said.
Another new ride was the Remix, a high-speed ride that Girton described as an extreme version of a Scrambler. The top five rides were the Giant Wheel, the Niagara Falls Flume, the Crazy Mouse Roller Coaster, the Blitzer Roller Coaster and the Polar Express.
Pay-one-price wristbands cost $53 (U.S.) on weekends and $48 on weekdays. Coupons cost $1 for one; $10 for 11; $20 for 22 and $50 for 55, she added.
Gate admission to the Calgary Stampede cost $16, Booth said, the same as last year.
Changes to the grounds this year included the opening of the Agrium Western Event Centre, which had been under construction for 22 months, Booth said. Agrium is the sponsor of the $55.8-million project, which included the renovation of an existing building and the creation of a new, 25,000-sq.-ft. building.
Calgary Stampede is all about the brand, literally.
The Calgary Stampede does not release information about the details, including the amount or length of time of naming rights sponsorship agreements, Booth added.
Agrium Inc. is a Calgary-based supplier of agricultural products.
“Basically, it’s an ag area so we can do horse jumping and equine shows,” Booth said. “And we have 20,000 square feet of flex space where we do trade show events. Also included is a beautiful rotunda, which is the entrance.”
The building will be used as a classroom in conjunction with the Calgary school system for Journey 2050, an Agrium-sponsored curriculum about food in the future.
“In the year 2050, the population will have increased substantially and agriculture and food will have decreased, so how will we feed people in 2050?” Booth said.
The Calgary Stampede grandstand was still the home of the daily rodeo and chuckwagon races, which finishes with a fireworks show. Tickets for the afternoon rodeo started at $36 and tickets for the evening chuckwagon races started at $51 and went up to $103 for levels 1 and 2 center seating.
Other attractions included three or four shows daily of the Peking Acrobats, which was free with the price of admission, as well as the Enmax Corral Show, which was themed “The Evolution of Extreme” and which, in addition to motorcycles and motocross, also included an extreme Pogo stick show.
Another new addition to this year’s event was an area called Triple B, which stood for barbecue, bowls and beer.
“It was a large, open-area beer garden and food area surrounded by barbecue trucks from California,” Booth said. “There also were two mechanical bulls that people could ride, so it was a great addition to Stampede Park.”
Next year’s dates will be July 3-12.
Interviewed for this story: Jennifer Booth and Adam Oppenheim, (403)261-0101; and Amy Girton and Scooter Korek, (765) 509-1169