KDays attendance jumps, Taste of Edmonton's declines: organizers

KDays and Taste of Edmonton on July 27, 2024. (Adel Ahmed/CTV News Edmonton)

KDays officially wrapped up on Sunday, and organizers say attendance was up 33 per cent from last year.

"We are extremely happy with this year’s KDays and attendance. Despite the heavy smoke and extreme heat in the first five days, Edmonton really turned out for the best 10 days of summer," Jessie Radies of Explore Edmonton said in a news release on Monday.

A total of 741,905 people attended the festival. The highest daily attendance was 127,875, but organizers did not say which day that number represents.

While KDays is celebrating an attendance boost, Taste of Edmonton saw a decline in festival goers from 2023.

"Our 2024 attendance finished at 210,000. This is down 20 per cent from last year," Donovan Vienneau of Taste of Edmonton wrote in an email to CTV News Edmonton.

Vienneau ascribes the decrease in attendance to the hot weather at the beginning of the festival.

"This year's attendance is comparable to 2019 and that iteration had several rain outs," he said.