Stampede

Stampede is Calgary's largest event - something people look forward to all year. It's 10 days of real-life rodeo (the largest in North America) and real-life cowboys and 10 days of the Urban Calgary-ites pretending to be cowboys. Now, I have done the rodeo in Houston - but this was something entirely different. First, people dressed up every day for 2 weeks straight. Everyone. In Houston people dressed up a bit - but it was hard to tell if people were dressed up or if the cowboy gear was their normal attire. On an average day, Calgary people don't wear cowboy outfits. Really. Second, the whole city is in Stampede mode for the entire 2 weeks. This includes free pancake breakfasts all over town every day of the week. It also means the stores try to "stampede" themselves by putting up wood exteriors and hay bales. Even the stores in the mall, ie: Banana Republic, dress their mannequins to be in rodeo attire. The two weeks start off with the Stampede Parade, and then the "Stampede" fair (typical fair stuff - rides, gross food, animals, rodeo). In addition, there are many, many parties to attend - mostly for the corporate folks. Pete went to something every night of the Stampede. I went to a couple of the events with him and we had a great time. I'll post photos from the other events in future posts.

Here's an example of the restaurants trying to "stampede" their exteriors.