More than a quarter of a million people are expected to descend on Island Grove Regional Park this summer for the 103rd Greeley Stampede, which opens Wednesday.
As the city’s largest event, the attendance will have an impact well beyond the park’s 145 acres.
The Stampede generated $23 million in revenue for both the event and the city combined in 2022, according to a report by the International Festival & Events Association. Stampede CEO Justin Watada expects this number to grow every year.
“Since that report, our attendance has only grown, and so I expect it to continue to grow as well,” Watada said. “When people come to the Stampede, it’s an experience. They get to say they’re going to the rodeo, and we try to keep it as affordable as possible to keep it family friendly.”
Thousands of people walk around this year's food court during the Greeley Stampede on June 29, 2024, at Island Grove Regional Park.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)About 84% of Stampede attendees come from Weld County, according to data collected in 2024. An estimated 40,000 attendees came from outside the county or further to attend the Stampede.
With the anticipated attendance of more than 250,000 people, each ticket costing $18 for admission and parking, the Stampede projects it will generate $4.5 million from these two items alone. That does not include the concerts, special events or rodeo.
In 2022, the average guest spent $61 on food, merchandise, alcohol and other items, according to the International Festival & Events Association report. The average guest also spent an average of $32 outside the festival, mostly at restaurants in the surrounding area.
Watada described the organization’s purpose as three-fold: to celebrate the nation’s independence, preserve Western heritage and strengthen the Greeley community. The Stampede continues to fulfill that last part of its mission through large charitable donations to local volunteer groups, totaling $139,570 in cash donations in 2024, with intentions to surpass that number this year.
“We intend to give back to the community this year as much as possible,” Watada said.
In 2024, the Stampede donated an additional $93,000 to community volunteer groups, including Living Grace Baptist Church, Northern Colorado Youth Hockey and the Roosevelt High School instrumental music department, among many others. The Stampede, a nonprofit, operates what can be viewed as a donation exchange, in which groups that volunteer for the Stampede earn a donation for their organization after the festival is over.
Among the 2024 beneficiaries of the Stampede’s nonprofit donations was the Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity, which received $2,500. Habitat CEO Cheri Witt-Brown said such donations are extremely helpful for the families Habitat tries to house.
“Donor dollars like this go straight to the families to help buy down their first mortgage,” Witt-Brown said. “Any donations like this go into that down payment pool, and in some ways, that’s even more meaningful because that’s what helping us get 50 families in homes this year.”
This kind of support creates a ripple effect throughout the city’s economy, as more families that can be sustainably housed through Habitat, the more money can be funneled to the city through jobs. This doesn’t include the effect that could be had when those families leave subsidized housing, freeing up city resources.
“The cool thing about this community is that it will bring $68 million back into the local economy in jobs, and that doesn’t even talk about the economic benefit of these families coming off subsidized housing,” Witt-Brown said.
The Stampede also invests in higher education for Weld County students. The Greeley Stampede Foundation has awarded more than $850,000 to over 650 students across Northern Colorado since 2006.
This year, the foundation awarded 20 high school seniors with a $2,500 scholarship to support their goals of continuing their education, totaling $50,000 in donations.
The foundation’s new All Around Champion Impact Scholarship is its largest, awarding $100,000 to Yaelyn Chavez earlier this month. She plans to use the scholarship to pursue a career in health care administration.
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