CALGARY
- Despite a kind of roller-coaster in attendance this year, the Calgary
Stampede's outgoing chairman said he believes the number of visitors to
the annual event will top 2 million  at some point in the next decade.

The
Stampede's incoming chairman, meanwhile, said a proposed link between
the grounds and 17th Avenue should be fast-tracked to open the park up.
George Brookman, the Stampede's outgoing chairman, said the main
obstacle in bringing more people to the grounds is simply giving them
ample space to walk around.

"The problem right now, really, is
there's physically just not enough room," he said Sunday. "There were
170,000 people in the park (on Saturday) and you couldn't move."

The
space strain will be helped by the estimated $500-million worth of
Stampede expansion, he said, the first fruits of which will show next
year when the new Round-Up Centre opens.

Two million in attendance would nearly double the Stampede's record total, set in 2006 when the gates swung 1,262,518 times.

The
88th Stampede was bookended by salutes to Patsy Rodgers, the Stampede's
first queen who was made the honorary parade marshal, and Joe Carbury,
the longtime voice of chuckwagon racing whose call Sunday will be his
last.

The Stampede also held a litany of Quebec-related events
in connection with Quebec City's 400th anniversary this year. While the
Stampede's pervasiveness in Calgary's streets and office buildings
didn't show any signs of waning, attendance on the grounds had its
highs and lows.

The highs came near the end, with record-setting
days on the second Friday and Saturday and a busy Sunday. The lows were
in the slight overall drop in attendance, which as of press time was
down around 12,000 people through Saturday.

This year's
attendance sat at 1,121,017 through Saturday, compared to 1,133,925 at
the same point last year. The difference was partly pinned on the
higher gas prices and Canadian dollar that likely kept some Americans
at home.