Attendance at Antelope Island event down because of bad weather
Jay Peacock is thrown from a mechanical bull during the Antelope Island Stampede on Saturday. (NICHOlAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner)
A pilot in a powered parachute glides over the Antelope Island Stampede on Saturday. (NICHOlAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner)
Children pop bubbles during the Antelope Island Stampede on Saturday. (NICHOlAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner)
View from a hot air balloon near Kaysville during the Antelope Island Stampede on Friday. (NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner)
ANTELOPE ISLAND — And the bands played on.
The three-day Antelope Island Stampede fell short of reaching its projected attendance goal of 20,000 people after encountering heavy rain and wind over the Labor Day weekend.
The actual number of patrons at the event, which ran from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, is not yet available, but organizers are certain attendance was down from the 20,000 who attended in 2011.
“We were down in attendance, but it was still a very successful event this year,” said Barbara Riddle, president and CEO of the Davis Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“We fought rain. We fought wind,” Riddle said of the weekend storms. “You try to control everything you can control, but you can’t control Mother Nature.”
But despite the attendance shortfall, Riddle labeled the event a success because all scheduled musical acts performed, 900 children attended Saturday’s kite-making course and vendors rode out the storms.
And while the unpredictable weather may have kept some patrons away, the professional kite demonstrations at the sixth annual event soared with the additional wind, Riddle said, while the 40 vendors on hand took only a short break in their sales to batten down the hatches when the elements were at their worst.
Those who came prepared for the elements by wearing slickers and carrying umbrellas weathered it well, she said.
And while the weather Friday and Saturday proved to be challenging, Riddle said, Sunday offered picture-perfect hot-air balloon weather with successful balloon lifts that evening.
Davis County Commissioner John Petroff Jr. said he feels bad for Stampede festival organizers because of the amount of work they did in responding to the weather during the three-day event.
“But if anybody can put lipstick on a pig, Barbara (Riddle) is able,” Petroff said at Tuesday’s county commission meeting.
“There was something there for every age group,” Riddle said. “For $15 a carload, they got a great value.”