The Red Bull Crashed Ice event in Edmonton ended with a crowd of 70,000 Saturday night.

According to the official event website by Red Bull, it was the “largest crowd ever to attend a single-day public sporting event in downtown Edmonton”.

President and CEO of Edmonton Economic Development Corp Brad Ferguson said the money the event brought into Edmonton was above what was expected.

“We thought the economic impact would be somewhere between $6 and $10 million. We ended up over that for sure.

“We had bars and restaurants that normally do $5,000 a night. They were doing $3,500 an hour. You look at that kind of impact and the velocity of money in the downtown core and that pays off in no time with respect to the small amount of money that the City put in and the province put in and Edmonton Tourism put in and Edmonton Destination Hotels. The payback is significant and immediate.”

The event featured a 415-metre long track with a vertical drop of 45 metres. It took almost a month to build and Red Bull said it was “one of the most unique in history”.

The track in Edmonton began in the city centre and wound around the River Valley.

The free, three-day event even gained some new fans.

Jennifer Ramoudit described it as action-packed.

“It is amazing how much height those guys get coming around the corners.”

Dan Stumbord said it was “super fun” to watch.

“We didn’t get really close but we saw the first corner that has a dip and it was a lot of fun.”

Spectator Kyle Anderson said he hoped the city would bring it back.

“It is good to see so many people out in Edmonton supporting something like this.”

Athlete Christian Papillon said he believed the city would be a good place to host the event again.

“Everywhere in town everybody is talking about it.

“This is always good proof the city loves it and wants to get it.”

Ferguson said the event was something they hoped would be a regular thing in the city.  

“We want to make sure we create a rhythm and an energy and a pulse in this city that keeps Edmonton alive and makes sure that Edmontonians are proud of what they do, are excited about their city and are engaged with their city.”

The City of Edmonton put up $400,000 for the event while the province contributed $300,000. Edmonton Destination Hotels kicked in $200,000 and Travel Alberta put in $100,000.

This was the 36th Red Bull Crashed Ice event since 2001 and the 10th straight year that Canada hosted it.

With files from Nicole Weisberg, Stewart Shaw and Julia Parrish