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Despite threatening grey skies, Calgarians and visitors came out in full force for Day 1 of the Calgary Stampede, breaking a single-day attendance record.

Clad in western hats, boots and bandanas, 127,777 people stomped through the Stampede gates on its first full day, breaking the previous record of 122,403 last year and 115,235 in 2017.

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A slight increase from 2018, Day 1 attendance is on the rise for Calgary’s annual 10-day festival and spokesperson Jennifer Booth is thrilled.

“We always hope for great attendance, obviously, so we were really pleased to see so many people were on (the) park and really excited to see it broke last year’s record,” said Booth.

She said the reversed parade route from parade-to-park, which has been in place for three years now, helped bring foot traffic through the gates, in addition to free admission from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

It was a soggy start to parade day but eventually, the sky turned from menacing to a cloudy calm.