Hot weather, water woes and an all-time attendance record: A look back at this year's Calgary Stampede

On Sunday, the Stampede reported that it welcomed 146,673 guests, bringing the final tally to 1,477,953 — an all-time attendance record for the Calgary Stampede.

Several single day attendance records were also broken, including Stampede Park's opening day on July 5, family day on July 7 and community day on July 9. 

"I think we could arguably say that this was the greatest of the greatest outdoor shows on earth," said Calgary Stampede CEO Joel Cowley at a press conference on Sunday morning. 

This year's celebrations were marked by a heat warning from Environment Canada for the first several days of events, as well as the water main break which endangered the entire city's water supply which was structurally repaired just before the Stampede kicked off. 

And while Cowley said that going into the Stampede with water supply issues in mind was an "interesting" experience, the festival was prepared to truck-in water from outside the city if it had come to that. 

"We had a plan as we announced, and our plan was to offset as much Calgary treated water as possible using non potable water from the Elbow River," Cowley said. 

He added that additional water supply, if needed, would have been trucked in from the community of Alderside, which is just south of Calgary, as well as Rocky View County. 

To help patrons beat the heat, Cowley said the recent expansion of the BMO Centre played a pivotal role, adding an additional 565,000 square feet of indoor space for people to get out of the sun.

"Having the BMO Centre space that was behind construction fence for the past two years, having that space back to host our guests allowed them to spread out and relax and rest and recharge was absolutely critical to the success of this year's Stampede," he said.

The SAM Centre, Stampede's new year-round experience, was another new offering for this year's festival, said Cowley. 

Chuckwagon horse euthanized

Calgary Stampede's marquee events, including the rodeo, the Rangeland Derby, and the evening Grandstand Show remained the most popular guest attractions. 

On Sunday, Cowley said that a fourth animal had been euthanized during this year's Stampede, during the Saturday night Rangeland Derby. 

A horse on Obrey Motowylo's team suffered a fracture. After consulting with a veterinarian, Cowley said the owner of the horse made the decision to have it euthanized. 

"The critics of our animal activities will say this is unacceptable," said Cowley. 

"Quite frankly, we agree. But unacceptable to us means we have more work to do."

Cowley said the Stampede had made changes over the past three years to minimize animal deaths during the chuckwagon races specifically, including moving from four racing wagons to three, adding lane delineators on the inside of the track, and using ground penetrating radar to ensure the track surface is level. 

"We will work with them to continue to evolve our programs and our animal safety to make it as safe as possible." 

Another chuckwagon horse, an outrider's horse, and a steer are the three other animals that have died at this year's Stampede.