The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth
Trip Start
Jul 14, 2006
1
Trip End
Jul 15, 2006
Calgary,
Alberta,
Canada
Saturday, July 15, 2006
The Stampede in Calgary is pretty much like Octoberfest or Mardi Gras for their respective cities: a giant freaking party, and the culmination of a year's worth of effort and anticipation. The whole town literally goes nuts. Store fronts paint ridiculous cowboys in their front windows, grown men and women walk around in public wearing cowboy hats (a sin I myself am guilty of), and bars charge $50 for cover
01 Chuck Wagon Race Part 1
. Nuts. There is a hotel in town that actually hosts "gin breakfasts" put on by some charity or other, where people pay through the nose for pancakes and open bar, starting at around 7:30 in the morning. Usually respectable business men are off their asses drunk by 9am. People come from all over the world to attend this party, and during Stampede there is not a hotel room to be had in the city. Not much sleep to be had either (thankfully Terri and I no longer live downtown, which tends to get a little bit noisy at times during the festivities.)It really is a great experience, and a whole lot of fun, just being in town while everything is going on.
Terri managed to get us some tickets for the chuck wagons races and grand stand show for the last Friday of Stampede, and rodeo tickets for the next day. Friday rolled around, and we took the train up to the Stampede grounds (public transit is packed all the time during Stampede, and that day was no exception.) After fooling around on the grounds for a while, we headed into the stands to watch the show. Chuck wagons are manned by two drivers, and pulled by a team of 4 horses. They start the race by going around some obstacles, then run an oval that was probably 1/2 mile. Each race team has some "outriders" (I think that was the name) which are guys riding on horseback, that follow the wagons around
02 Chuck Wagon Race Part 2
. Their job is to hold the horses in place before the race starts, and they have to finish within a certain distance of their wagon, or else the wagon is assessed a time penalty. After several exciting heats, it was time for the grandstand show. They wheeled out this huge intricate stage, and the singing and dancing began. Before I go on, I have to say that everyone involved in the grandstand show was very skilled. The singing and dancing were very nice, and well choreographed. Most of the performers were members of a Calgary youth group, and did an amazing job. The show itself was nearly epic in scale - length, content, and effects on stage were quite impressive. Now, that being said, some of the grandstand show was pure cheese. I described it later as something you might expect to see being performed at Disney world by kids wearing mouse ears. There were many notable exceptions though: A gentleman played the bagpipes, and did covers of AC/DC and Van Halen. There were also some native dancers that put on a great show. Good fireworks too. All in all a good time, but I'm not sure I would pay the price of admission twice. One thing I have to commend the writers for was the strong patriotism theme, something I'm sorry to say I find lacking in some Canadians.
Saturday was the second to last day of the Stampede, and was "Wildcard" day at the rodeo
03 Stampede Logo
. Basically, everyone who was eliminated earlier on was given another chance to make it into the Sunday finals, to compete for the big cash prizes. The rodeo was, hands down, the best part of Stampede. Roping, bucking horses and bulls. It was a great time. It was really exciting to watch guys literally hanging on for dear life as a bull tried to buck them off their back. It certainly wasn't the sort of thing I expected to get a kick out of, but it was a whole lot of fun. Unfortunately, the pictures really don't do it justice.That was our Stampede experience. Quite a bit more sober than many others, but I can't quite drink like I did when I was a teenager. What can you do?
