Some sun and free admission helped draw crowd for final day of Calgary Stampede

The early morning sunshine and free admission until noon helped draw a big crowd for the final day of the greatest outdoor show on earth Sunday.

Despite the mostly bad weather throughout the week and drop in attendance, Stampede officials called this year’s show a success.

Omar Alsheblak and his family from Syria took advantage of the free admission Sunday to check out their first stampede. They’ve been in Calgary for six months.

“I like this. Very nice, very beautiful,” Alsheblak said.

Stampede 2016 will go down as one of the wettest on record.

To help draw in more crowds and to show appreciation to weather weary Calgarians, the Stampede offered three unscheduled value days, including free rides all day Sunday on the west jet sky ride.

Stampede officials say people came out in droves despite the weather.

“It is surprising, that in a torrential down pour when I think I am the only person that’s going to be standing at Kidsworld with my children, and to see just how many people are out there actually enjoying stampede. So surprising but very heartening,” Warren Connell, the Calgary Stampede CEO, said.

Some people are die-hard stampede-goers every year, undeterred by weather.

“We come every year. Why? I just like the atmosphere, the people, it’s just a fun time that’s all laid-back and relaxed for a change,” Reg Power said.

“It was raining, but we bought little rain suits,” Georgina Schneider said.

“The floods won’t stop us, the rain won’t stop us, we are all happy to be here,” Bob Dube said.

There were some changes this year, a different dog show and some new chuckwagon rules, both of which organizers say were well received.

“We have changed the rules about chuckwagon racing and how they get invited back. Safety is a major component and I think we’ve all noticed this year that the drivers have been driving safer and that’s been beneficial to the whole operation,” Bill Gray, Calgary Stampede president, said.

Charities depending on ticket sales are always at the mercy of the weather.  They could only hope the last busy day would help make up for a damp week.

The rain put a damper on some people’s Stampede plans Saturday, but despite the drizzle, more than 109,000 people still visited the grounds.

Compared to last year, that same day, 151,063 people pushed through the gates.

Overall attendance is down by more than 125,000.