By Sara Beth Williams–
Citrus Heights has revised historical attendance estimates for its annual Stars and Stripes Celebration after adopting a new artificial intelligence-powered analytics platform.
City officials say the new AI data tool provides a more accurate way to measure participation at large public events.
While this year’s patriotic celebration, held June 27 at Van Maren Park, is still estimated to have drawn about 6,000 attendees, newly released historical data shows attendance at previous years’ events was significantly lower than earlier estimates provided by the city.
According to data released by the city Thursday, attendance has grown steadily from 2,900 attendees in 2023 to 3,400 in 2024, 3,900 in 2025 and an estimated 6,000 attendees in 2026, the city said in a statement.
The revised figures are different from estimates previously provided to The Sentinel by the city, which placed attendance at 4,000 in 2023, 7,000 in 2024 and 7,500 in 2025. Those estimates were based on staff observations and venue capacity estimates rather than data analytics, city spokesperson Marisa Brown said.
Brown said the city has been using Placer.ai for about the past year to better understand attendance at city events and in public spaces such as commercial corridors. The tech analyzes aggregated and anonymized mobile location data to estimate foot traffic and attendance.
According to the company’s website, Placer.ai gathers location signals from mobile devices through third-party applications whose users have opted to share location data. The platform uses GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals, and uses machine learning models, to estimate visitor counts and broader attendance patterns. The company says personal identifiers are removed before the data is processed, helping ensure individual users cannot be identified.
Brown said the updated method allows the city to measure attendance more consistently and compare participation more accurately year over year.
“Attendance figures previously reported by The Sentinel were provided by the City and were based on staff observations, which was the methodology available at the time. The Sentinel’s previous reporting was accurate based on the information provided by the City at the time,” the city said in a statement.
City officials say this year’s attendance “reflects the continued success and growing popularity of the Stars & Stripes Celebration.”
The Stars and Stripes patriotic celebration, now in its fourth year, featured live music, family activities, food vendors and a fireworks display at Van Maren Park. The inaugural Stars and Stripes event was made possible through the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.
