Stampede Centennial

Friday marked the opening on the 100th Annual Calgary Stampede. Having lived in Calgary all my life, the Stampede is a familiar tradition. Cowboy hats, plaid shirts, boots and Wrangler jeans come out of the closet in preparation, and free pancake breakfasts pop up all over the city. The Stampede is kicked off with a parade full of floats, horses, marching bands and entertainers. Festivities continue for the following ten days. Beer flows freely, sunburns are inevitable, and people give you strange looks if you're NOT decked out in Western attire.

Exhibit A: Jeff decked out in Western attire.

Last year I took a break from the Stampede and didn't make it down to the grounds, so this year I decided to go all-out. Ashley, Jeff and I got both rodeo and grandstand tickets, and anxiously watched the weather to see what it would do. The forecast declared it would be a beautiful day! Sunny and 24 degrees. And indeed, the day started out blue and beautiful.

View of the rodeo infield.

Of course... The beautiful weather did not last, and gave way to an afternoon downpour. Dark clouds filled the sky, and we were thankfully that Ashley had the foresight to choose seats that were in a covered section of the grandstand.

A storm passes overhead.

A little inclement weather didn't slow down the cowboys. We saw the ladies barrel racing, bareback riding, saddle bronc, steer wrestling and bull riding.

A bull who had bucked it's rider.

When the rodeo was done we took to the grounds and found Ashley a cowboy hat. We took in the midway, and looked around at what the food stands had to offer. Hot dogs, poutine, burgers, milkshakes, corndogs, deep fried dough, deep fried cheesecake, deep fried Mars bars-- pretty much anything you could imagine, deep fried.

Midway ferris wheel.

We took a look through the dream home, and through a tent aimed at kids with piglets, chicks and cows.

Baby chicks under a heat lamp.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the grandstand for the chuckwagon racing. Before we headed back into the building, we made sure to stop for my all-time favourite Stampede treat... Mini doughnuts! Nom nom nom... So good! Full of cinnamon sugary goodness...

Mini Doughnuts!!!

Our seats were a little higher in the stands for the chuckwagon racing, but we still had a great few of the arena and the stage. We watched eight heats of chuckwagon racing-- some with VERY close results.

Chuckwagons lining up at the start.

When the racing was done we were treated to an entertaining grandstand show featuring the Calgary Stampede Young Canadians-- talented young singers and dancers from the Calgary area. Interspersed in their dance numbers were Asian acrobats from Tokyo's Jinan Acrobatic Troupe, First Nations dancers and world champion hood dancer, Dallas Arcand. And of course there was (in my opinion), the star of the show-- Paul Brandt! Paul sang a number of his well known hits, including Convoy, Didn't Even See the Dust,  Small Towns and Big Dreams and Alberta, all while suspended on a stage in the air! I had a great time cheering and clapping, even though Paul was at one point wearing some exceptionally tight white pants!

Fireworks during the grandstand performance.

A fantastic fireworks display ended the show-- beautiful colours exploding one after the other. And in the distance we could see the Light up the City fireworks from the northeast quadrant of town.

As we filed out towards the exit, we made one last stop at a food stand so that Ashley could get a turkey leg to go. I'm pretty sure this leg came from a monster of a turkey. Ashley reports it was a delicious purchase.

Giant turkey leg.

There are still 8 more days of Stampede to go, and plenty more beef on a bun to be eaten. Yeeee-haw!