Whoop-Up Days is being celebrated as a great success with the highest attendance in decades. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Whoop-Up Days 2025 sets modern attendance records

Aug 27, 2025 | 11:15 AM

This year’s edition of Whoop-Up Days was one of the highest-attended in its more than 125-year history.

Lethbridge & District Exhibition (LDE) reports that a total of 54,865 people came out to Whoop-Up Days 2025. That marks an increase of 36 per cent over last year’s summer festival, which had been the modern-day record holder.

“Whoop-Up Days this year was outstanding,” says Paul Kingsmith, Director of Event Development at LDE. “The numbers that we’ve seen come in are through the roof. Seeing the increases in guests that we’ve had on both the Whoop-Up Days and the Lethbridge & District Pro Rodeo side is staggering. This community came through in a big way for Whoop-Up Days this year, so we’re super excited.”

A record 9,075 people took part in the rodeo over the course of three days, up 47 per cent from last year. Saturday’s finale had 3,582 fans, which beat the previous single-day record set in 2024 of 2,671.

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Kingsmith adds that The Grandstand has never been that full before.

“[The rodeo has] become one of those events that people are talking about in the community, and they want to be a part of, and they want to be there, and they feel like they’re missing out if they’re not there. We saw that big growth last year, and then this year just went exponentially higher.”

He gave a shoutout to all of the Original 16 Stage music performers for putting on a great series of packed concerts, adding that the show by Trooper will be one “that the city is talking about for a long time.”

The Siksikaitsitapi Princess Pageant and Powwow are also being heralded as great successes, with over 1,000 people attending.

Sunday’s Whoop-Up Wrap-Up was a new addition this year, which offered a pared-down, midway-focused experience for the final day of the fair.

Kingsmith says a little over 1,000 people went out to the extra sixth day, which is lower than they anticipated.

“It goes back to taking risks and pushing forward and trying new things, and we’re happy to do that and we want to try doing that… we’ll kind of take that data back, we’ll look at how we marketed it, we’ll look at the feedback that we get from people who attended it, we’ll talk to our partners at West Coast Amusements and others as well and sort of evaluate if a Sunday is something we want to continue doing going forward.”

Kim Gallucci, Acting CEO of LDE, says he is humbled by the community’s response.

“We work to provide a fair that offers something for everyone, and the large crowds we see at the rodeo, at our music stage, on our midway, and around our other program areas show we are achieving that goal. I want to thank our entire community for their support and the commitment they have shown in us heading into 2026,” says Gallucci.

Kingsmith says he and the entire LDE team are incredibly proud of what they were able to pull off this summer, but adds that they cannot rest on their laurels.

Early planning is already starting for Whoop-Up Days 2026, which is set to run from Aug. 18-22.