Calgary or as its affectionally known, Cow Town, comes alive in the summer months and most noticeably for the annual Calgary Stampede. The whole town turns into cowboy central with mannequins in the shops all sporting cowboy hats, the buses displaying "Happy Stampeding", free pancake breakfasts every day of the week and a general buzz of excitement which fills the air.
Being that this was our first and possibly only chance in our lifetime to experience this phenomenon, we wanted to make the most of it so on the opening day of the 10 days of stampede we walked into the city on a scorching hot day to watch the annual Stampede Parade. This included people dancing, marching bands, floats, horses, cars, military vehicles, music and almost everything you can think of. The thing it didn't include … SHADE! Calgary is not built for heat and the sweltering conditions made everyone cram into tiny places with the smallest amount of shade to provide some relief. Starbucks nearby was also helping with cooling people down by handing out free hibiscus lemonade which was really yummy.
Post parade we caught the train to the Stampede grounds and were granted free entry as part of its opening day. Once we had made our way through the main gates we walked around for a while to get an idea of what was involved with the stampede. Just like the Royal Show back home there was a myriad of options in regards to rides and games to play with many giant plush toys on hand for those lucky enough to win a prize.
After a full rotation of the showgrounds it was time to find some food to eat. With Jess being the giant child she is, she was completely happy to eat a ginormous bag of cotton candy all to herself whilst I settled on chicken and chips (which ended up as 95% chips and 5% chicken). We then went for a tour through the lottery house that they were trying to sell tickets to in order to escape the excessive heat. After this we were exhausted and headed home for a well earned rest.
A few days later we headed back to the showgrounds to watch the much anticipated evening show which we had heard lots of good things about especially from my mum who was very excited about the chuck wagon races. The start of the evening show consisted of eight heats for the chuck wagon races in which a team attaches a wagon to two horses and race 3 other wagons around a course. To say it was fast paced and spectacular wouldn't be doing it justice.
Once we had gotten over the adrenaline of the chuck wagon racing it was time for the Canadians to up the ante and the excitement. Next up on the schedule was a horse relay race between four different teams where the rider is the baton. Once completing a lap of the stadium the rider jumps off one horse and onto another horse to complete another lap. Once the riders had done four laps on four different horses, the first rider across the line was declared the winner. As the stadium was exceptionally loud from cheering, jumping from horse to horse was no mean feat and a few of the riders almost ended up getting thrown off their horses.
The next item on the list was the stampede spectacular show. This included many musical acts, a ventriloquist, a comedian and a magician who had to get out of a straightjacket whilst being attached to a giant bear trap which was on fire. This all ended with a spectacular fireworks show which was one of the biggest fireworks displays we had seen.
Our final experience of the Stampede was a pancake breakfast on the final Sunday held in the city by one of the churches downtown. We arrived at about 9:30 and joined a large line of people looking to score a free breakfast. Once we had almost gotten to the front, we were told that the food was running out and it was likely that we in fact would not be getting fed. Luckily for us though, there was still some left and we sat down and ate our pancakes and sausages before heading home again.
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