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Attendance at this year’s K-Days exhibition stopped just short of breaking a record.

Defying expectations in a slumping economy, numbers released by Northlands Sunday show 803,087 visitors passed through the gates at K-Days this year, a 2.3 per cent jump over last year’s 785,290.

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“Last year we heard our guests wanted more value for their dollar and we listened,” said President and CEO of Northlands Tim Reid in a release.

While attendance this year was good, it was still short of breaking a record set in 2005 when 810,503 people attended the festival.

But not all of Alberta’s festivals have fared so well.

The Calgary Stampede recorded its lowest attendance in 22 years, with just 1,088,000 attendees over the 10-day fair this year, a seven percent dive over last year.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Booth put the blame squarely on bad weather, with rain driving officials to drop the $18 admission price to $5 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the last Thursday and Friday of the stampede.