Lacombe Days wrapped up yesterday, and the city was gifted with beautiful weather and huge crowds who came out to enjoy the festivities.
Between 10,000 and 12,000 people watched the parade, which travelled through more residential streets this year due to construction.
According to festival coordinator Jess Zylstra, a lot of people liked the new parade route, and she, along with the board, will look into that for next year.
But the route was just one part of the parade, and Zylstra believes many other factors made it successful.
“I think it was a combination of the massive amount of floats, the type of floats that we had, the community engagement, advertising and the weather,” she said.
There were between 85 and 90 cars or floats in the parade, including our Rocky Mountain Dodge & RV Sunny Summer Cruiser and it was one of the bigger crowds in the past few years.
One reason for the larger turnout this year was the number of families coming to experience Lacombe Days, along with visitors from other countries.
“We were so grateful to see people from Malaysia, Estonia, Netherlands and the States — they were all in attendance,” said Zylstra.
Attendees were able to experience nearly 50 events over the weekend, hosted by different organizations across the city — something Zylstra appreciates, as it takes a burden off the Lacombe Days board.
“Most of those were put on by individual businesses or groups in Lacombe. The community really steps up and steps in to make sure that the entire city has a fantastic festival weekend,” she said.
The fireworks were also a huge success, helped by the beautiful weather and the food trucks and live bands starting earlier.
Zylstra says it was one of their biggest crowds in recent years.
“I wouldn't even be able to give you a number honestly, but it was a very large crowd,” she said.
Planning for the next Lacombe Days started a month ago, as there is always some overlap, since brainstorming is a yearlong process.
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