Whoop-Up Days crushes old attendance records

By Lethbridge Herald on August 28, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

A new modern paid attendance record at Whoop-Up Days and the Lethbridge & District Pro Rodeo has been broken, with this year seeing over 50,000 people going through the gates. 

A total of 54,865 people attended Whoop-Up Days this year, breaking the record set in 2024 by an 36 per cent. 

The Lethbridge & District Pro Rodeo also beat 2024’s record by 47 per cent, with 9,075 people attending the three days of pro rodeo and relay racing action. 

Another attendance record broken this year was Saturday’s finale, which brought in 3,582 fans, smashing the previous single-day attendance of 2,671 set last year.

Paul Kingsmith, director of event development with Lethbridge & District Exhibition said Wednesday that this year’s Whoop-Up Days was outstanding. 

“Seeing the numbers that we’ve seen come in are through the roof, seeing the increases in guests that we have for Whoop-Up Days and the Lethbridge & District Pro Rodeo side is staggering, and this community came through in a big way for Whoop-Up Days,” said Kingsmith. 

He said many factors contributed to such an amazing success, as the weather was pristine, all the elements were there to make it a great show, the effort from everyone that came together to put up the event and the support from the community. 

“We also saw a big growth in our stage performers. The Trooper concert Friday night is I think one that the city will be talking about for a long time. The stage area was packed, super exciting, and Chad Brownlee also brought in a huge crowd on Saturday,” said Kingsmith. 

He said LED is taking big pride in the numbers they have for this year, as when there is over 54,000 attending an event like Whoop-Up Days, “you know you’re doing something right.” 

“But we don’t take that for granted, we want to make sure that people will continue to want to come out because it feels fresh and it feels different and feels exciting each and every year, so that’s our challenge,” said Kingsmith. 

In terms of how some changes were received by attendees, Kingsmith said that for the most part people were pleased, but for some who are keen on traditions, some of the changes did not land well. 

“Our new product Jumbo bites which replaced the traditional Jumbo Ears, saw an increase in sales over what Jumbo Ears had done in the past, and we had really good feedback,” said Kingsmith. “But we also had some people that like their traditions and we know there are some people that didn’t like them as much.”

He said it is hard to cater to everyone, but when it came to Jumbo Bites, they were received very well, not only for the convenience of the product and tasty dips, but also because the changes made to their production helped the process take less time and the lineups moved faster than before. 

“Our sales this year were through the roof. We heard that people thought they weren’t as popular because the line wasn’t as long, but that was because our new production process,” said Kingsmith. 

He said they nearly sold out of Jumbo Bites, but they managed to keep afloat until the last day. 

This year Whoop-Up Days offered a wrap-up day on Sunday with a midway-focused experience, which drew more than 1,000 people to the grounds for the West Coast Amusements midway, food trucks and the Original 16 Beer Garden.

“It was a little bit under of what we would’ve expected for a day like that, but it goes back to taking risks, pushing forward and trying new things. It was a good chance to see how the community would react to a sixth day of Whoop-Up Days,” said Kingsmith. 

He said they will take that into consideration for next year planning to evaluate if Sundays is something they want to continue offering moving forward. 

Kim Gallucci, acting CEO of Lethbridge & District Exhibition, said they were thrilled to see the support from the community, not just from within the city, but also from surrounding areas. 

“We believe that our Free until Three in the early part of the week, helps create opportunities for families, but our attendance now in the third year in a row is growing, which has been fantastic,” said Gallucci. 

He said the growth has been seen in all areas of Whoop-Up Days, including an increase in the parade floats and people taking part in it in general. 

In terms of how Whoop-Up Days is benefiting the LDE financially, Gallucci said they are still working through the numbers with some expenses still coming in, but with an increase in attendance, things are looking good. 

“It definitely is a rise in revenue, with an increase in attendance we are expecting a rise in revenue around the 33 per cent mark,” said Gallucci. 

Planning is already underway for Whoop-Up Days 2026, which will take place from Aug. 18-22, with the Lethbridge & District Pro Rodeo running from Aug. 20 to 22. 

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CF

11 hours ago

Best fair yet! What a difference!

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