KDays has finally recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, Explore Edmonton says. The exhibition this year counted a total attendance of more than 764,000, the highest it has been since the event returned in 2022. Former operator Northlands cancelled it in 2020 because of the pandemic and then again in 2021 because of uncertainty about how to deliver an excellent event on a tight timeline and budget. Explore Edmonton took the annual summer exhibition and Farmfair International on the following year. “I would say we’re now recovered post-COVID. We’re very happy to be where we are today,” said Arlindo Gomes, Explore Edmonton’s vice-president of business development and venue management, in an interview with CTV News Edmonton on Monday. “It feels great because many businesses struggled post-COVID; I think a lot of events did. And we’re really excited about the growth that we’ve had over the past few years. It positions us well for the future.” KDays’ opening day on July 18, which consisted of a pancake breakfast with the premier and a concert by American punk rock band Bad Religion, also set an attendance record, beating 2012’s opening-day attendance of 72,500 by some 11,000 people. The G-Eazy and Marianas Trench concerts were sold out, as was the Jazzy B concert, which was KDays’ first by a South Asian artist. The latter featured Chani Nattan and Inderpal Moga, a pair from Surrey, B.C. Many of the festivalgoers CTV News Edmonton spoke to this year called the musical acts either the main draw or crucial to the atmosphere. “You can always hear the music playing,” said 16-year-old Maria Marin. “It’s pretty cool.” “I love the music. I love when they bring the old hits back,” added longtime attendee Beth Devlin. Of course, many also cited fair rides and food as reasons for attending. However, almost everyone CTV News Edmonton spoke to were annual attendees for whom the exhibition is a tradition they do with loved ones. “There’s a lot of ways to support the local economy here. There’s a lot of local restaurants and businesses… Some of the food here is great that you can’t really get other places,” said another KDays customer, Laksh Chopra. One Taste of Edmonton attendee said he wasn’t planning on including KDays in his list of local summer experiences because he’d rather spend his money elsewhere. “To be frank, I’ve been to (Calgary) Stampede so many times,” Isaac Su told CTV News Edmonton. “I think I’m just kind of over it. It is overpriced to me and so I’m just not willing to spend that extra dollar.” Although KDays attendance was up this year – three per cent, year over year, and the highest since 2018 – it did not beat the all-time attendance record of 816,000 in 2017, according to KDays records dating back to 2007. Explore Edmonton recognizes it has work to do to attract first-time visitors. Gomes said the tourism agency is trying to do this by ensuring the event reflects every demographic in the city. “Partnerships like the Jazzy B concert on Tuesday night … is a good example of where we’re trying to expand that reach and bring in new attendees into the event and create and build those memories and those annual traditions of coming with friends and family,” he said. Sustainable growth remains Explore Edmonton’s top KDays goal. Gomes said there’s a lot of potential to turn the CKUA stage into a bigger opportunity for local talent. “There will be certainly a lot of focus on where we take the entertainment component,” he said, but was otherwise quiet about plans for next year. “We’re certainly focused on key areas of enhancing our guest experience and then looking at how we tweak the programming,” he said. “Our focus continues to be how we can maximize the community impact of this event on our local community.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg, Nav Sangha, Galen McDougall, Brent Pushkarenko
