Attendance increased at Edmonton’s annual summer fair and exhibition this year. KDays saw a year-over-year increase after the 10-day spectacle wrapped up on Sunday, drawing 783,000 people to the Edmonton Expo Centre and the surrounding exhibition grounds. The all-time KDays attendance record is 816,000, a mark set in 2017. Taste of Edmonton, another festival held around the same time as KDays, saw 250,000 sample the wares of 50 different food vendors at downtown’s Churchill Square. The 43-year-old event typically draws between 250,000 and 350,000 per year. Arlindo Gomes, the vice-president of business development and venues management at Explore Edmonton, said KDays attendance increased by 43,000 people in 2026. Gomes said Monday the annual summer fair and exhibition brought in more than $25 million for the local economy. “I think it’s demonstrating that we’re on the right track with reimagining KDays … making sure it’s about Edmonton for Edmontonians (and) reflecting our community,” he told reporters. Explore Edmonton, the city’s tourism arm that operates the Expo Centre and the Convention Centre, took over running KDays from Northlands in 2022. Donovan Vienneau, Taste of Edmonton’s executive director, said his festival saw an increase, which he calls exciting, “especially in this day and age with the economy and the price of everything increasing.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti
