What Stampede means to me?  An expression of city spirit and western heritage.

It’s the middle of this year’s Stampede, and I haven’t been to the grounds, nor do i intend to.  You might assume I don’t like Stampede, or that I’m one of the folks who only talks of leaving town during the annual event.  However, this wouldn’t be true at all.

I moved to Calgary in ‘99 not knowing much about it.  “The Big Four” didn’t mean anything to me. The historical ties to the CP Rail, I knew nothing about.  Oil booms going back nearly a hundred years and the impact on the cities prosperity I had no knowledge of.  I’m from the interior of B.C. where it’s all about Gold, Silver and Coal mines. Ghost towns are all over B.C. and the signs of busier times.  

My first Stampede I didn’t go to the grounds and resisted the overflowing spirit around the city.  I’m not one for “Western” culture, I’d only been on a horse twice for a total of a half hour. However history does interest me, especially history I can see.  How did things come to be the way they are, there’s always a story. The history of Calgary is about pioneering a new way of life. That can be said across Canada, and even North America.  However I don’t live across the continent I live here, so here is where I can see history’s influence on today. The more I learned about my new home’s history the more I was caught up in that pioneering spirit, and I believe it still resides here today.  To me the Stampede represents a glamorous romanticized version of our history.

You can tell me the Stampede is only about partying and drinking.  You can tell me the Stampede only represents cruelty to animals. You can tell me it’s a fraud to western culture with urban city folk pretending me be cowboys for ten days.  You can also tell me Stampede is just an overblown and overpriced grab for tourists. I’ll agree with every one of those statements, from a certain point of view. But I’ll also say you’ve only experienced one aspect of the Stampede.  It represents so many different things, to different people and different industries. You can be a big fan and not know all the aspects to it.

For me, it is an expression of city spirit and western heritage.  We celebrate it to say this is where we come from and that spirit is still alive here.  So does this mean I’m a big fan of the Stampede? Do I go to the grounds every year? Nope.  But I do like what it represents. Coming from a small town, civic pride was important. We as a community took pride in our town, what it represented, where it came from, who built it, and what we had achieved.  It was only natural to have city events and celebrations. You can have a city celebration to commemorate a city’s founding. Why don’t we just do that? Because, we’re celebrating more than our city’s history, it’s a collective history of the west.  

In 2012 the Stampede celebrated 100 years of Stampeding.  Technically it has only been running annually since 1924, but it’s origins can be traced to 1886.  It was begun by the Calgary and District Agricultural Society, to promote Calgary, western expansion and agricultural ingenuity.  I think that is still something to celebrate together as a city. Don’t complain to me that traffic is bad during Stampede, that hotels are expensive, or that all tourists are bad drivers.  People are celebrating our home, any city in the world is going to be busy when it hosts a major event. I’m proud to have an event to host for the world. Proud that we have more than the Stampede to be known for, but that the Stampede is how we celebrate our city.  

Stampede spirit isn’t confined to the grounds of the Stampede in Victoria Park it’s all around.  When I see the first Stampede decorations going up at the end of June I smile because that’s our city spirit on display.  There are families with long standing traditions of watching the parade together. For others it’s all about the midway rides, of the grandstand show.  I’ve never yet seen the chuckwagon races live but I will. Why? I have no history or connection to agriculture or cattle. But it’s where I live, where I choose to live, where I’m proud to live.  I like the Stampede, I look forward to the city’s expression of it, the unity of common experience, I love what it represents to so many.

When you’re new here it may not mean anything to you, but it likely will, especially if you can get past the county music.

Events that make up the Stampede

Parade – Held the first Friday in July and kicking of the event is the Stampede Parade

Rodeo – Technically this is what it’s all about.  One of the largest of its kind in the world covering six major events,  bull riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, saddle bronc and bareback riding – and four novice events – junior steer riding, novice bareback, novice saddle bronc and wild pony racing.

Rangeland Derby – This the chuckwagon race perhaps the most iconic event of the Stampede.

Grandstand Show and the Stampede Showband – Held each night on the grounds this is world class entertainment with song and dance to acrobatic performance ending with a nightly firework display.

Exhibition – The agricultural exhibition began in 1886, made up of 50 farm and ranch displays and competitions.  

Midway – The midway is what most people talk about when they say “the grounds” with a mixture of rides and carnival games.  There are two concert areas. Nashville North, a huge party tent (with lines even longer) is a country music venue. Next is the Coca-Cola stage, where there’s family entertainment during the day and rock and pop acts at night.  Lastly, the Saddledome host headline acts.

Market – Located in the BMO center it’s 410,000 sq ft of retail space with vendors selling everything imaginable, with a featured area called the Western Oasis.