July 8-11 Calgary Stampede, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Incredible! Funtastic! That's what I think of now when I think of the Calgary Stampede. It is so much more than a rodeo, or even a state fair. We saw and did so much in the three days that we attended, but we we still didn't see everything even though we stayed until midnight every night!
It started with a huge parade on Friday morning. We were glad we had purchased bleacher seats from the Boy Scouts because the parade lasted for almost 2 ½ hours! That's the longest parade I have ever seen! There were 350,000 people watching the parade and 10,000 people and 750 horses in the parade! Actually, there was even pre-parade entertainment to keep us occupied while we waited for the parade to start – dancers, singers, clowns, musicians.
I loved the fact that they celebrated all of the ethnic groups that make up Calgary, a city of a million. There were floats for Danish Canadians, Brazilians, Chinese, Indians, Southeast Asians, Native Peoples, and even the descendants of the first pioneers, all dressed in their colorful native costumes.
Horses were a huge part of the parade, with people riding horses of all colors and breeds. There were also lots of teams of horses, both large and very small, pulling beautifully decorated wagons with their passengers equally dressed up. The horses sported lots of shiny silver buckles and bangles on their harnesses along with brightly colored ribbons that often matched the “socks” around the bottom of their legs and the ribbons woven into their manes and tied up tails. Drivers and passengers usually wore ties and shirts, or dresses in the same color as the horses ribbons, and the ribbons usually matched the color of the wagons.
Bands, bands, bands! I love bands in parades, and I was not disappointed here as there were numerous marching bands in colorful uniforms. There were also about 5 or 6 bagpipe bands with the pipers in their plaid kilts. There is a special Calgary Stampede Showband made up of boys and girls ages 14 to 21 who led the parade, and then entertained us day after day at the Stampede grounds.
Now for the entertainment provided at the grounds! There were at least 15 different things going on every hour, and they change every few days, so we had to pick and choose carefully. A lot of the events held were for national championships, so the competition was very tough. One of our favorite competitions was the “heavy horse” Clydesdales, Belgians, Percherons, and Shires) competition, with horses, drivers, and wagons all colorfully attired as I described above. It was really amazing to watch the drivers, with multiple reins in hand, driving 6 horse teams accompanied by the music of the live Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra! The music was a very nice bonus to an already beautiful event.
We also saw miniature horses pulling wagons their size, going through the same paces as the huge horses, although the normal size drivers did look a little out of place! There were several events where cowboys and girls were competing in things like team penning where they had to get three calves with the same numbers on them into a pen at the other end of the arena in under a minute. It sounds easy, but calves are not as cooperative as you want. Another event was the “Cowboy Up” which is where horse and rider must go through an obstacle course within a certain time. It was very difficult, and many horses didn't complete the course.
Another favorite event was the sport dog trials. This is where border collies have to get sheep to go in certain areas with just whistles and minimal commands by their owners. The dogs reminded us of our border collies, Holly and Mitz, who were very smart, but not trained to commands like the dogs we saw here. These dogs are real athletes.
There was also an ice show, with the Canadian Olympic stars past and present; Nashville North, with famous singers performing; an Xtreme games kind of circus; comedians; magicians; ventriloquists; military demonstrations; The Royal Canadian Mounted Police doing their musical ride; vintage tractor pulls; horse pulls; two midways; sheepshearing competitions; blacksmithing competitions; a dog show; a whole village devoted to the local Indian tribes showcasing their dances, crafts, and way of life; special events for little kids; and the list could go on and on.
Regular admission to the park got you all of those activities. The two showcases activities held at the grandstand, the rodeo and the evening show, cost extra. We went to the rodeo every day. The second day we were just going to pay for the cheap tickets that let you stand and watch the rodeo, but while we were in line, a stranger came up and offered us two tickets. I thought he wanted to sell them to us, but he gave them to us! He got them from a corporate sponsor and said he didn't like to watch the rodeo from where the seats were located, so he always gave them away! Lucky for us, because the seats happened to be in the best location in the grandstand. Those seats aren't available for normal people to purchase (we wouldn't have wanted to pay $200 apiece anyway), because corporations buy them up and give them to people as gifts. So we were gifted with great seats right above the chutes! It was kind of neat seeing the rodeo from 3 different angles as each day we sat in a completely different area. This is a big rodeo as it pays out over a million dollars in prize money. The first four days there are ten competitors in each event who must be invited because of their high standings in rodeo competitions to be in it, and the next four days a different group of ten competitors for each event comes in. The top ten qualifiers from those two sessions are in the final two days of the rodeo to decide the winner. I'm sure that will be great entertainment as in the three days we attended, several world records were broken.
The evening show was actually two evening shows. The first hour and a half were the chuckwagon races. These rival any stockcar races for speed and excitement. Four chuckwagons, each pulled by six former race horses, must race around the track to see who will come in first. Each team is accompanied by four “outriders” also riding former race horses. At the beginning of the race, one outrider holds the team in place, the other three must place certain items in the wagon as it would have been in the days when chuckwagons were used, and then all four chuckwagons and sixteen outriders race around the track. At the end, the winning team's outriders must be within a certain distance of the wagon or points are deducted.There were several exciting heats, often won in the last few seconds, with the winners getting pretty good prize money.
The other half of the evening's entertainment rivaled anything you could see in New York or Las Vegas. I was surprised that it had nothing to do with horses! It was called “World Party” and the costumes, lighting, special effects, singing, dancing, and talent were amazing. There were a few “stars” like the winner of Canadian Idol, but most of the singers and dancers were kids who are members of the group Young Canadians. They ranged in age from about 7 – 18, and sang and danced their hearts out as well as any Broadway performers I have seen. Often when they did their musical numbers all 200 of them were on stage at once. I couldn't figure out how that many kids could do costume changes at the same time, especially given their ages!The show featured lots of special effects with fireworks, aerialists traveling up and down on wires, 4 motorcyclists racing around inside a small metal ball at the same time while other motorcyclists did aerial tricks over them, gymnasts doing tricks on movable, flexible balance boards, and two young people doing all kinds of gymnastic maneuvers in the air above the stage and above the crowd with the help of some long fabric and wires. The whole thing was energetic, colorful, amazing, joyous, and lots of other adjectives. We actually saw it twice because the first evening the special effects were cancelled due to rain, so we bought standing room tickets for the second night and were extremely pleased that we did. There was just so much energy and pride for Canada coming from the stage.
The whole three days were fantastic, and we'll try to come again some time. Everything is very well planned, and thought out. What I like best was that this wasn't just about a rodeo, it was about celebrating. The Stampede Committee really values young people, and raises lots of money in order to have the Stampede Showband and the Young Canadians, both groups of kids who spend the entire year performing, not just the ten days of the Stampede. These kids are encouraged to be musicians, or dancers, or singers, not cowboys and cowgirls. But the kids who want to be cowboy and cowgirls are encouraged, too, as there are events for them.
This was truly an unforgettable time for us, and we're so glad we came.