Pridetallica: Heavy metal and Pride celebrations brought Olympic-level crowds to Montreal
Montreal's Olympic Park saw a record number of visitors to its grounds on Sunday, the biggest crowd since its inauguration in 1976.
A total of 88,824 visitors were recorded, thanks to two events that can only be described as Barbenheimer-esque: a Metallica concert and the Pride Parade afterparty.
In a press release, park officials said 63,750 spectators filled the Olympic Stadium for the Metallica concert on Sunday, the second of the band's two shows in Montreal over the weekend.
The event drew in fans from around the country, with Metallica pulling a reverse-Taylor Swift by skipping Toronto in favour of Edmonton and Montreal.
Meanwhile, 25,134 Pride festivalgoers made their way to Olympic Park for a dance party and closing concert. The Montreal Pride Festival saw a big comeback in general, one year after the parade was abruptly cancelled due to organizational issues.
"Forty-seven years after its inauguration, the Olympic Park set a new attendance record worthy of the greatest international events," reads a statement from the park's president and general director, Michel Labrecque. "August 13, 2023 will go down in the history of our installations."
Pridetallica is the latest event in what has been successful tourist season in Montreal so far this year.
On Monday, the group Tourisme Montreal announced visitor numbers had returned to pre COVID-19-pandemic levels, thanks in large part to the long list of festivals, shows and conferences hosted in the city.
Mayor Valerie Plante applauded the busy tourist week on Twitter, highlighting other contributing events like the ÎleSoniq music festival, the National Bank Open, the Otakuthon anime convention and the First People's Festival.
"Congratulations to our partners who made these events a success. Montreal continues to be the destination of choice for major events!" she wrote.
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