Officially, the MLS “Soccer Celebration” was a series of games and booths confined to the north parking lot Sunday before the MLS Cup final at Qwest Field in Seattle.

But in another sense, the Puget Sound region enjoyed an eight-month soccer celebration reaching from Seattle Sounders FC’s inaugural game to Major League Soccer’s crowning game, won by Real Salt Lake 5-4 on penalty kicks over the Los Angeles Galaxy.

It began on March 19 when the Sounders drew a crowd of 32,523 for their inaugural game. The club went on to set an MLS attendance record of 30,897 per home game – almost twice the league average.

And while the Sounders didn’t get the storybook ending of playing in the 14th MLS Cup on their home pitch, 46,011 turned out at Qwest Field to celebrate one last time.

It was the largest crowd for an MLS Cup since the record crowd of 61,316 at Gillette Stadium in the 2002, which featured the hometown New England Revolution.

Bright green Sounders jerseys were prominent again Sunday, but fans showed up in jerseys from around the league and around the world. Many were worn by visiting supporters from Los Angeles and Real Salt Lake.

“I’m excited to see (soccer in Seattle),” said Dustin Roethel who was wrapped in an RSL flag after his 14-hour drive from Salt Lake City. “I wish our tickets were in the bottom bowl. I think it’s kind of stupid they gave all their season-ticket-holder tickets to MLS Cup even if Seattle wasn’t going to make it, so basically you’re going to have the fans of the two teams that made it in (lesser seats). I’m not dissing on Seattle fans, Seattle fans are awesome.”

Not all Salt Lake fans were clustered in an upper deck. One large group chanted and waved flags from the northeast corner of the lower bowl, while Los Angeles supporters dominated the southeast corner.

“I never watched soccer before at all,” said Sarah Stewart, wrapped in Galaxy gear. “He forced me.”

The “he” in question was husband Benjamin Stewart, a Southern Californian who comes by his soccer fanaticism a traditional way: He was born in England.

“My granddad was born in West Ham, so that kind of made me a fan, and I’ve always had an interest in it,” he said. “I get up early every Saturday and Sunday to watch all the matches.”

However, the trip to MLS Cup was Sarah’s idea, with visits to the Space Needle and Pike Place Market part of the deal.

“I thought she’d never go for it,” Benjamin said. “But she said, ‘We’re going.’”

MLS Cup was the second major soccer championship to be played in Seattle. Soccer Bowl ’76 – the North American Soccer League championship game – was played in the Kingdome with the Toronto Metros-Croatia defeating the Minnesota Kicks, 3-0. Qwest Field became the eighth stadium to host the MLS championship game.