Beginner's Guide to the Calgary Stampede

By: Nelson Smith on July 17, 2015

As far as I’m concerned, the summer should be filled with random trips, delicious food, and time spent with friends or family. Recently, I checked off all of those boxes by taking a day trip into Calgary and attending the world famous Calgary Stampede.

What a great day. Although you’ll have to wait until next year’s event to attend, I recommend everyone spends at least one day at the Stampede in their lifetime. Even if you’re from Eastern Canada, it’s still worth the trip.

What is the Calgary Stampede?

There’s so much going on during the Stampede that it’s virtually impossible to describe it in just a few words. It’s a giant party, but it’s so much more than that.

Firstly, there’s the rodeo. The Stampede is by far the biggest event on the rodeo circuit, with the cowboys competing for a total purse of more than $1 million in events like bull riding, steer wrestling, saddle bronco, and bareback riding. Essentially, these are all events that see how long a rider can stay on a bucking horse (or bull).

Rivaling the rodeo in popularity are the chuck wagon races. Each driver sits in an old-fashioned buggy pulled by a team of horses. Four drivers compete in each heat, driving through a course filled with obstacles before making the horses sprint towards the finish line. Each race only lasts about a minute, making up for the short heats with ample amounts of excitement.

Budget-strapped travelers will most likely opt out of the rodeo and chuck wagon races, since they’re expensive events to attend. For just $18 -- the price of a general admission ticket -- attendees get access to the midway, exhibition, market, and the Indian Village, a celebration of Native culture and traditions.

The star of the rodeo is the midway

For me, it doesn’t get much better than the midway, the carnival-like atmosphere that’s spread out over the whole grounds.

There are dozens of rides, ranging from the tamest to a looping apparatus that looked like it was about to catapult riders clear across the city over and over again. I was terrified just watching from the ground, so I stuck with the tame stuff like the bumper cars and the sky ride, which is just a ski lift that goes over the length of the grounds.

The midway is more famous for its food, outdoing itself each year with new concoctions. I spotted signs for deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, deep fried Oreos, poutine with just about everything on it, a lobster corndog, red velvet chicken strips, and a grilled cheese made with donuts instead of bread.

I wasn’t brave enough to try anything too fancy, but one of my companions had pizza topped with macaroni and cheese. According to the person serving it, Mac and Cheese pizza was rivaling pepperoni as the most popular flavor.

Shopping at the Calgary Stampede

Each year more than 200 merchants fill the 410,000 square foot BMO Centre selling artwork, electronics, toys, house wares, and everything in between. The crowds were massive, and from what I saw they had their collective wallets wide open.

Top it off with an outdoor concert

Each year, there are dozens of free concerts on the Coca-Cola stage. Additionally, some of the world’s most popular artists will have shows at the Calgary Saddledome at the same time.

This year’s lineup was a little weak compared to previous years, but Stampede goers were treated to free shows from Lights, Brett Kissel, Ok Go, and others that I’m not cool enough to know.

There’s more...

I’ve just scratched the surface. There are dozens of events I haven’t mentioned, from the agricultural exhibits to the massive parties each night. There’s a reason why more than 1 million people annually attend the Stampede. Maybe next year it’ll be you.

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