K-Days see decline in visitors: Officials say rain at fault

Hundreds of thousands fewer visitors attended K-Days this year compared to 2022. The event saw a major decline in the number of people attending.

Explore Edmonton says they welcomed over 557,000 guests through the gates. That’s down more than 200,000 people compared to 2022.

Officials say part of the decline in attendance is poor weather conditions.

“Slightly lower than last year but we had three and a half or almost four rain days that impacted that attendance but overall we are pleased with the result of this years event,” explained Arlindo Gomes, Vice President of Explore Edmonton

“Whenever the weather turned negative, we saw attendance dip right away so its pretty easy to correlate those impacts.”

Despite the attendance decline, Explore Edmonton says they are pleased with the result of this year’s event and are looking forward to growing its local programming next year, all while giving Edmontonians what they know and love

“Every year we’re trying new things. We’re seeing a growth of our local programming. We invite a lot more local vendors into our program, local artists into our program. So from bringing Edmonton into the event, I really see us achieving great success.”