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travel / adventure zone
| The Adventure Zone |
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| Photo courtesy
The Calgary Stampede |
The Calgary Stampede
Saddle up, it’s time for the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth!
By Tracy C. Read
Its downtown streets may be crowded with high-rolling financiers, oil
tycoons and office towers, but for 10 days in July, Calgary, Alberta, is
still the place any cowboy worth his Stetson wants to be.
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| Photo courtesy
The Calgary Stampede |
Almost a century after the first rodeo and Wild West show was held here in
1912, the Calgary Stampede continues to draw excited crowds and diehard rodeo
fans. Incorporating a midway, stage shows, music, agricultural exhibits as
well as a rodeo, the Stampede today attracts well over a million visitors
each year. On July 4, this year’s opening day, the Calgary Stampede Showband,
with accompanying floats and entertainers, follows a 4.5-kilometre route
through downtown Calgary in a parade that draws some 350,000 onlookers, many
dressed in western garb and fresh from one of the free pancake breakfasts
held around town.
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| Photo courtesy
The Calgary Stampede |
The heart and soul of the annual exhibition resides at the Stampede Grounds
on the southeast edge of downtown Calgary. While the Stampede features show-biz
headliners, fireworks and more, however, it’s the rodeo portion that sets
pulses racing in Cowtown. A tournament-style format has international champions
competing in six major events — bareback, bull riding, ladies barrel
racing, saddle bronc, steer wrestling and tie-down roping — then advancing
to compete in final win-or-lose challenges on Showdown Sunday. With a $1,000,000
at stake, it’s been dubbed “rodeo’s richest afternoon”.
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| Photo courtesy
The Calgary Stampede |
For those who fear that Calgary’s current big-city status has overshadowed
farming and ranching traditions, there’s Ag-tivity in the City. Cow milking,
sheep shearing and stock dog demos are scheduled every day; there are also
cutting horse competitions, cattle penning contests, sheep dog handling,
blacksmithing demonstrations and vintage tractor pulls. During the International
Youth Livestock show, kids aged nine to 20 show their heavy horses, cattle
and sheep, while young rodeoers stir up some dust in novice bareback and
saddle bronc competitions and junior steer riding and wild pony racing. It’s
all part of a unique culture that guides and mentors the next generation.
With package offers available online, it gets even easier to be part of
one of Canada’s most iconic events. Year after year, the extraordinary
popularity of the Calgary Stampede continues to prove that there’s a little
bit of cowboy in all of us.
Visit: calgarystampede.com
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