Calgary Stampede
Encyclopedia
The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo
, exhibition
and festival
held every July in Calgary
, Alberta
, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade
, midway
, stage show
s, concert
s, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing
and First Nations
exhibitions.
The event's roots are traced to 1886 when the Calgary and District Agricultural Society held its first fair. American promoter Guy Weadick
launched his first rodeo and festival in 1912 and returned to Calgary in 1919 to organize the Victory Stampede in honour soldiers returning from World War I. It became an annual event in 1923 when Weadick's festival merged with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition to create the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.
Organized by thousands of volunteers and supported by civic leaders, the Calgary Stampede has grown into one of the world's richest rodeos, one of Canada's largest festivals and a significant tourist attraction for the city. Rodeo and chuckwagon racing events are televised across Canada. However, both have been the target of increasing international criticism by animal welfare
groups and politicians concerned about particular events as well as animal rights
organizations seeking to ban rodeo in general.
Calgary's national and international identity is tied to the event. It is known as the "Stampede City", carries the informal nickname of "Cowtown" and the local Canadian Football League
team is called the Stampeders
. The city takes on a party atmosphere during Stampede: office buildings and storefronts are painted in cowboy themes, residents don western wear
and events held across the city include hundreds of pancake breakfasts and barbecue
s.
The Calgary and District Agricultural Society was formed in 1884 to promote the town and encourage farmers and ranchers from eastern Canada to move west. The society held its first fair
two years later, attracting a quarter of the town's 2,000 residents. By 1889, it had acquired land on the banks of the Elbow River
to host the exhibitions, but crop failures, poor weather and a declining economy resulted in the society ceasing operations in 1895. The land passed briefly to future Prime Minister
R. B. Bennett
who sold it to the city. The area was called Victoria Park, after Queen Victoria
, and the newly formed Western Pacific Exhibition Company hosted its first agricultural and industrial fair in 1899.
The exhibition grew annually, and in 1908 the Government of Canada announced that Calgary would host the federally funded Dominion Exhibition that year. Seeking to take advantage of the opportunity to promote itself, the city spent C$
145,000 to build six new pavilions and a racetrack. It held a lavish parade, rodeo
, horse racing and trick roping
competitions as part of the event. The exhibition was a success, drawing 100,000 people to the fairgrounds over seven days despite an economic recession that afflicted the city of 25,000.
Guy Weadick
, an American trick roper who participated in the Dominion Exhibition as part of the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch
Real Wild West Show, returned to Calgary in 1912 in the hopes of establishing an event that more accurately represented the "wild west" than the shows he was a part of. With the assistance of local livestock agent H. C. McMullen, Weadick convinced businessmen Pat Burns
, George Lane
, A. J. MacLean
, and A. E. Cross
to put up $100,000 to guarantee funding for the event. The Big Four, as they came to be known, viewed the project as a final celebration of their life as cattlemen. The city built a rodeo arena on the fairgrounds and over 100,000 people attended the six-day event in September 1912 to watch hundreds of cowboys from Western Canada, the United States and Mexico compete for $20,000 in prizes. The event generated $120,000 in revenue and was hailed as a success.
Weadick set about planning the 1913 Stampede, promoting the event across North America. However, the Big Four were not interested in hosting another such event. Businessmen in Winnipeg
convinced Weadick to host his second Stampede in their city, but the show failed financially. A third attempt held in New York
State in 1916 suffered the same fate. Weadick returned to Calgary in 1919 where he gained the support of E. L. Richardson, the general manager of the Calgary Industrial Exhibition. The two convinced numerous Calgarians, including the Big Four, to back the "Great Victory Stampede" in celebration of Canada's soldiers returning from World War I
.
The combined event was first held in 1923. Weadick encouraged the city's residents to dress in western clothes and decorate their businesses in the spirit of the "wild west". Civic leaders truly supported the event for the first time: Mayor George Webster
followed the costume suggestion and allowed downtown roads to be closed for two hours each morning of the six-day event to accommodate street parties. The new sport of chuckwagon racing
was introduced and proved immediately popular. 138,950 people attended and the event earned a profit. Over 167,000 people attended in 1924 and the success guaranteed that the Stampede and Exhibition would be held together permanently.
Attendance grew annually throughout the 1920s, peaking at 258,496 in 1928, but the onset of the Great Depression
resulted in attendance declines and financial losses. After consecutive years of losses in 1930 and 1931, the exhibition board was forced to make cutbacks, a decision that strained the relationship between the board and Weadick. Furthering the divide was Weadick's growing resentment of the board's control of what he considered his event. The issue came to a head in 1932 when Weadick and Richardson engaged in a loud argument over the situation, ending with Weadick's threat to quit entirely. One month later, the exhibition board announced that it had relieved him of his duties. Angered by the decision, Weadick sued the exhibition board for $100,000, citing breach of contract and unfair dismissal. His claim was upheld in courts, but he was awarded only $2,750 plus legal fees. Embittered by the events, Weadick remained at odds with the board for 20 years until he was invited to the 1952 Stampede as an honoured guest and parade marshal.
At least seven movies were filmed at the Stampede by 1950. The most profitable, the 1925 silent film
The Calgary Stampede, used footage from the rodeo and exposed people across North America to the event. Hollywood stars and foreign dignitaries were attracted to the Stampede; Bob Hope
and Bing Crosby
each served as parade marshals during the 1950s, while Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
made their first of two visits to the event as part of their 1959 tour of Canada. The Queen also opened the 1973 Stampede.
oil well in 1946 and major reserves in the Turner Valley
area southwest of the city ushered in a period of growth and prosperity. Calgary was transformed from an agricultural community into the oil and gas capital of Canada. The city's population nearly doubled between 1949 and 1956, and Calgary's immigrant population not only embraced the Stampede, but encouraged friends and family in their home towns to do the same. The 1950s represented the golden age of the Calgary Stampede.
Attendance records were broken nearly every year in the 1950s and overall attendance increased by 200,000 from 1949 to 1959. The growth necessitated expansion of the exhibition grounds. The 7,500-seat Stampede Corral
was completed in 1950 as the largest indoor arena in Western Canada. It housed the Calgary Stampeders hockey team, which was operated by the Board of Governors and won the Western Hockey League
championship in 1954. Acts such as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
and Louis Armstrong
played the Corral, although the arena's poor acoustics were a frequent concern to organizers and patrons.
Improvements were made to the grandstand and the race track was rebuilt in 1954. The Big Four Building, named in honour of the Stampede's benefactors, opened in 1959 to serve as the city's largest exhibition hall in the summer, and was converted into a 24-sheet curling
facility each winter. The improvements failed to alleviate all the pressures growth had caused: chronic parking shortages and inability to accommodate demand for tickets to the rodeo and grandstand shows continued.
Attendance continued to grow throughout the 1960s and 1970s, topping 500,000 for the first time in 1962 and reaching 654,000 in 1966. Organizers expanded the event from six days to nine in 1967 and then to ten the following year. The Stampede exceeded one million visitors for the first time in 1976. The park, meanwhile, continued to grow. The Round-Up Centre opened in 1979 as the new exhibition hall, and the Olympic Saddledome was completed in 1983. The Saddledome replaced the Corral as the city's top sporting arena, and both facilities hosted hockey
and figure skating
events at the 1988 Winter Olympics
.
Maintaining the traditional focus on agriculture and western heritage remained a priority for the Calgary Stampede as the city grew into a major financial and oil hub in Western Canada. "Aggie Days", a program designed to introduce urban schoolchildren to agriculture was introduced in 1989 and proved immediately popular. A ten-year expansion plan called Horizon 2000 was released in 1990 detailing plans to grow Stampede Park into a year-round destination for Calgarians; an updated plan was released in 2004. Attendance has plateaued around 1.2 million since 2000, with the current record of 1,262,518 set in 2006. The organization dropped the word "exhibition" from its title in 2007, and has since been known simply as the Calgary Stampede.
The parade serves as the official opening of Stampede and begins shortly before 9 a.m. on the first Friday of the event. Each year features a different parade marshal, chosen to reflect the public's interests at that time. Politicians, athletes, actors and other dignitaries have led the event over the years. The event features dozens of marching bands, over 150 floats and hundreds of horses with entrants from around the world, and combines western themes with modern. Cowboys, First Nations dancers and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
in their red serges are joined by clowns, bands, politicians and business leaders. The first Stampede parade, held in 1912, was attended by 75,000 people, greater than the city's population at the time. As many as 350,000 people attended the parade in 2009, while the presence of Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at the 2011 parade as part of their tour of Canada
increased attendance to a record estimate of 425,000.
(CBC) on its main network, as well as its specialty channel, Bold.
There are six major disciplines – bull riding
, barrel racing
, steer wrestling
, tie down roping
, saddle bronc and bareback riding
– and four novice events – junior steer riding
, novice bareback, novice saddle bronc and wild pony racing. Each event is organized as its own tournament, and the cowboys and girls are divided into two pools. The first pool competes each night for the first four nights, and the second each night for four nights following. The top four in each pool advance to the Sunday final, and the remainder compete on Saturday for a wild card spot in the final. The competitor with the best time or score on Sunday wins the $100,000 grand prize.
All livestock for the rodeo events come from the 22000 acres (89 km²) Stampede Ranch located near the town of Hanna
. The ranch was created in 1961 as a means of improving the quality of bucking horses and bulls and to guarantee supply. The first of its kind in North America, the Stampede Ranch operates a breeding program that produces some of the top rodeo stock in the world and supplies rodeos throughout southern Alberta, and as far south as Las Vegas.
Weadick is credited with inventing the sport of chuckwagon racing
in 1923, inspired either by seeing a similar event in 1922 at the Gleichen Stampede
or watching impromptu races as he grew up. He devised the sport to be a new and exciting event for the newly joined Exhibition and Stampede. Weadick invited ranchers to enter their wagons and crews to compete for a total of $275 in prize money.
Called the Rangeland Derby, and nicknamed the "half-mile of hell", chuckwagon racing proved immediately popular and quickly became the event's largest attraction. While only six teams raced in 1923, today's Rangeland Derby consists of 36 teams competing for $1.15 million in prize money. Joe Carbury
was the voice of the Rangeland Derby for 45 years, until 2008. His distinctive voice and signature phrase of "and they're offfffffff!" to announce the start of a race made him a local legend, and earned him induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. Races are broadcast nationally by the CBC.
The chuckwagon drivers auction advertising space on their wagons before each year's Stampede. The first advertisement on the tarp cover of a chuckwagon was made in 1941, and Lloyd Nelson was the last person to win the Rangeland Derby without a sponsored wagon, doing so in 1956. The current practice of selling advertising via a tarp auction began in 1979. The revenue generated by the auctions, over $2 million for the 2010 Stampede, is considered an indicator of the strength of Calgary's economy.
sanctions a World Series of Cutting
event, and the World Championship Blacksmith Competition attracts top blacksmith
s from around the world. Farm and ranch demonstrations feature numerous breeds of livestock along with stock dog
trials and team penning
competitions.
Additionally, the exhibition serves to educate the public about Alberta's ranching and agricultural heritage along with modern food production displays through events like Ag-tivity in the City. The Stampede works with Alberta 4-H
clubs to encourage youth participation in agricultural pursuits, and has a partnership with Olds College
that includes the operation of a satellite campus at Stampede Park.
has been operated by North American Midway Entertainment, and its predecessor Conklin Shows
, since 1976. The midway is the only part of the event operated on a for-profit basis. It is considered an essential component of the Stampede, but is separate from the predominantly western theme. The midway opens on the Thursday night before other events begin, known as "sneak-a-peek" night. In addition to the traditional rides and carnival games, the midway features two concert areas: the Coca-Cola
Stage and Nashville North, which feature rock/pop and country music respectively, and draw acts from all over North America.
Centre on the northwest corner of the park. It offers 38000 square metres (409,028.6 sq ft) of retail space and in 2011 had 181 vendors selling artwork, toys, household goods, foodstuffs and other items. The Western Oasis, a subsection of the market, offers cowboy and western-themed artwork, bronze statues, craftwork, foods and wine. Lured by the opportunity to show their wares to the one million people who attend the Stampede, some vendors wait years before gaining admittance, and those that do consider it one of the prime events of the year.
Stampede Park is located southeast of downtown Calgary in the Beltline District and is serviced by Calgary Transit
's light rail system
. Permanent structures at the site include the Saddledome and Corral, Big Four Building, BMO Centre – a convention and exhibition facility – a casino, the Stampede Grandstand
, the agriculture building, and a number of facilities that support the exhibition and livestock shows.
The park remains at its original location, though attempts were made to relocate. In 1964, the Stampede Board made plans to purchase former military land in southwest Calgary near Glenmore Trail and 24 Street and relocate the park there. A fully developed plan was released in 1965, and while it had the support of the civic and federal governments, intense opposition from nearby residents quashed the proposal. Space concerns remained a constant issue, and a new plan to push northward into the Victoria Park community beginning in 1968 initiated a series of conflicts with the neighbourhood and city council that persisted for decades.
While Victoria Park fell into steady decline, it was not until 2007 that the final buildings were removed, paving the way for both an expansion of Stampede Park and an urban renewal program for the area. With the land finally secured, the Stampede organization embarked on a $400-million expansion that is planned to feature a new retail and entertainment district, an urban park, a new agricultural arena and potentially a new hotel. The expansion was originally planned to be complete by 2011, but delays and an economic downturn have pushed the expected completion of the project back to 2014.
Stampede Park has long been a central gathering place for Calgarians and tourists. In addition to attendance at the Calgary Stampede, over 2.5 million people attend other sporting events, concerts, trade shows and meetings on a grounds that hosts over 1,000 events annually.
Each year, a queen and two princesses are selected as Stampede royalty. They are chosen via a contest open to any woman between the ages of 19 and 24 who resides in Alberta. An emphasis is placed on horsemanship skills and ability to serve as ambassadors for both the Stampede and the city. The first Stampede Queen, Patsy Rodgers, was selected in 1946 while the princesses were first chosen the following year. The royal trio serve one-year terms during which they will make hundreds of appearances throughout southern Alberta and across North America. They then become members of the Calgary Stampede Queens' Alumni Association, founded in 1971. The association organizes fundraisers and events in support of organizations that work with special needs children.
– the Tsuu T'ina
, Piikani
, Stoney, Kainai
and Siksika
– create an "Indian Village" on the bank of the Elbow River
in the southern section of Stampede Park. They erect tipi
s, organize pow wow
s, offer arts and crafts, and re-enact elements of their traditional lifestyle. Each year, an Indian Princess is selected from one of the five nations to represent the Treaty 7 as part of the Stampede's royalty. The village is among the Stampede's most popular attractions.
First Nations
peoples had been frequent participants in the city's exhibitions since they were first held in 1886, taking part in parades and sporting events and entertaining spectators with traditional dances. By 1912 however, pressure from agents of the Department of Indian Affairs
to suppress their historic traditions and to keep them on their farms nearly ended native participation. Weadick hoped to include native people as a feature of his Stampede, but Indian Affairs opposed his efforts and asked the Duke of Connaught
, Canada's Governor General
, to support their position. The Duke refused, and after Weadick gained the support of political contacts in Ottawa, including future Prime Minister
R. B. Bennett
, the path was cleared.
Hundreds of First Nations peoples, representing six tribes, participated at the 1912 Stampede. They camped in tipis and wore their finest traditional regalia, making them among the most popular participants in the parade. Tom Three Persons, of the Blood (Kainai) tribe, emerged as one of the Stampede's first heroes, amazing spectators with a winning performance in the saddle bronc competition. He was the only Canadian champion of the first Stampede and became the first person to successfully ride Cyclone, a notorious horse that had thrown over 100 riders during its career.
The federal government attempted to prevent a repeat occurrence, modifying the Indian Act
in 1914 to make it illegal for natives to participate in fairs or parades without permission from the local Indian Agent
. The new law ended native participation in the Calgary Exhibition, but when Weadick returned in 1919, he successfully fought for their return to the fairgrounds. Indian Affairs again sought to ban native participation in 1925 without success. While conflicts between the Stampede and Indian Affairs continued until 1932, the Indian Village has remained a staple on the grounds.
First Nations members and the Stampede board have occasionally met with conflict. The original location of the Indian Village was on low-lying ground that frequently flooded, a problem that was not resolved until 1974 when the village was moved its current location. Complaints about low appearance fees paid to tipi owners, lack of input on committees related to their participation and accusations that natives were being exploited have periodically been made throughout the years. The Stoneys famously boycotted the 1950 Stampede following a rule change that cancelled a policy giving any native person free admittance upon showing their treaty card. The event that year was marred by violent thunderstorms, which led to apocryphal stories that the band had performed a rain dance in an effort to ruin the fair.
Despite the conflicts, the native communities around Calgary have been enthusiastic supporters of the Stampede and the Indian Village. The tipi owners have been long-term participants – many are third or fourth generation – and the Stampede has helped preserve and display native culture to the public. The village will again relocate in 2013. It will double in size and feature a new exhibit displaying the partnership between the city, local nations and the Stampede.
Operation of the park throughout the year requires 300 full-time and 1,400 part-time employees. An additional 3,500 seasonal workers are hired for the Stampede itself. The seasonal positions are often filled by Calgary's youth, and for many, represents their first paying jobs.
The organization is maintained by a legion of volunteers, however. Over 2,000 volunteers sit on one of 50 committees responsible for all aspects of the Stampede's operation. Chief among them are the board of directors. The board is made up of 25 individuals; 20 elected from amongst the shareholders, three representing the city, one the province and the most recent president of the Stampede board. Nearly half of all volunteers have served for more than 10 years, and some as long as 60.
from New York as part of the 1964 grandstand show, they auditioned local youth to participate as the "Calgary Kidettes". It was intended to be a one-time addition, but proved immensely popular with spectators, and both The Rockettes and Kidettes returned in the following years. The Kidettes were renamed the Young Canadians in 1968 and not only remained a staple of the grandstand show, but grew into a headlining act by the late 1970s. Within nine years of their creation, the Young Canadians were playing shows throughout Canada and the northern United States and performing in front of over 200,000 people every year. In 1982, the Stampede set up the Young Canadians School of Performing Arts. Supported by both the Calgary public and Catholic school boards, the school offers professional training to singers and dancers between the ages of 7 and 19 paid for by scholarships from the Stampede organization.
The Stampede Showband was created in 1971 to serve as the organization's musical ambassadors. The troupe features over 150 members between the ages of 16 and 21, and has twice been named the world champion of marching show bands. The group has performed all over the world, in front of royalty and world leaders, and at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics
. The Showband performs year round, and make over 100 appearances during the Stampede alone. They will perform in the Tournament of Roses Parade
in Pasadena, California
for the third time in 2012 as part of the Stampede's 100th anniversary celebrations. The Stampede Showriders were created in 1985 as a precision equestrian drill team
and colour guard that accompanies the Showband.
groups who argue that the sport is inhumane. Officials defend the sport, calling the animals the "stars of the show" and stating that the Stampede is "passionate about the proper treatment of animals". The Calgary Humane Society has found itself at odds with other organizations by choosing to work with the Stampede to ensure that stress on the animals is kept to a minimum. It is one of two such groups, in addition to veterinarians, who are on hand to monitor the rodeo.
Chuckwagon racing is a particular source of controversy. Animal rights groups protest the event, arguing that the sport causes undue suffering for the horses. Racers admit the sport is dangerous, and it is not uncommon for at least one horse to die during each Stampede. Racers defend their sport amidst the controversy, arguing that the animals are well cared for, and that allowing them to race saves many horses from prematurely going to slaughter.
Following a particularly deadly series of accidents in 1986 where nine horses were killed in chuckwagon racing incidents alone – including five horses in one spectacular crash – humane society officials, fans and even some drivers called for major changes to the races, while others called for the sport to be banned entirely. Numerous rule changes were announced prior to the 1987 event. The Calgary chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
accepted the changes, stating it would not call for the sport to be banned given that Stampede officials had moved to improve animal safety, further changes were announced in 2011.
Tie down roping is a particular focus of efforts to eliminate the event. The Stampede altered its policies in 2010 to enforce the rules of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. Additionally, the Stampede was the first rodeo to introduce a no-time penalty for competitors who make a dangerous tackle in the steer wrestling event. Several more changes were made in 2011, the rule changes were announced after six animals died at the 2010 Stampede and were met with mixed reactions from both cowboys and animal welfare groups.
Such changes have not completely eliminated all risks; periodic accidents have continued to result in the deaths of horses and livestock. One of the deadliest incidents in Stampede history occurred in 2005 when, late in a trail ride meant to help celebrate the province's centennial, a group of about 200 horses spooked and in the melee nine horses were killed after they were pushed off a city bridge into the Bow River
. While similar trail rides had been completed without incident in the past, Stampede officials announced they would not attempt any further rides unless they could ensure the safety of the horses.
Animal welfare groups have called animal deaths "depressingly predictable" and seek a boycott of the rodeo. In the United Kingdom travel agencies have been asked to stop offering tourism packages to the Stampede, and in 2010, 92 members of the UK
Parliament signed an Early Day Motion
asking their Canadian counterparts to ban rodeo. Several groups petitioned the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to cancel their planned attendance in 2011. However, the couple attended and participated in a private demonstration of rodeo and chuckwagon events.
s. Many Calgarians have reduced productivity during the event because they take a relaxed attitude towards their usual workplace and personal responsibilities.
The largest is the breakfast hosted at the Chinook Centre
shopping mall. Four hundred volunteers are required to feed over 60,000 people who attend the one-day event that had its 50th anniversary in 2010. Other groups, such as the Calgary Stampede Caravan, feed as many as 120,000 people over ten days. The rising popularity of the barbecue grill in the 1960s and the city's population boom at the time brought with it the growth of community and company barbecues throughout the city during Stampede. Community booster groups have exported the tradition across the country as a symbol of Calgary's hospitality. Among them are the Calgary Grey Cup
Committee, whose volunteers have hosted pancake breakfasts on the day of the Canadian Football League
championship game for over three decades, sometimes in spite of poor weather conditions for the November game.
s, and Calgary is said to experience an annual baby boom each April – nine months after the event.
team has been called the Stampeders
since 1945, and it is a name shared by other teams in various sports throughout the city's history, including the Stampeders hockey team that operated in the years following World War II.
The Stampede has strong polling support within the province. A 2006 Ipsos-Reid
poll found that 86 percent of Albertans felt that it raised the civic quality of life and considered it one of the region's most important cultural events. Nearly three in four stated they look forward to the annual event. However, critics argue that the themes promoted by the Stampede and within the city are an invented tradition. They suggest that it is not a reflection of Alberta's frontier history, but represents a mythical impression of western cowboy culture created by 19th-century wild west shows and exploited for profit.
Part of the event's success can be attributed to the close relationship the Stampede has often shared with both the civic government and community leaders. Mayors of Calgary and city aldermen have sat on the Stampede Board of Governors at the same time they occupied public office, and the Stampede's ability to convince the city's wealthy and influential citizens to volunteer their time has allowed the organization to gain a high profile within the city. The Stampede operates on city-owned land, pays no property tax on its lease, and typically faces little to no political interference from City Hall. It operates as a non-profit entity with all income reinvested into the park. All improvements to the park would revert to city control if the lease were allowed to expire.
Likewise, the Stampede has support from the media, which has been accused of providing an inordinate amount of positive coverage to the event while trivializing negative aspects. The local media faced national scrutiny in 2009 when both major newspapers refused to run anti-rodeo ads sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society. While the Calgary Herald
simply refused to run the ad, the Calgary Sun
defended its position in an editorial. The Sun refuted charges it was kowtowing to the Stampede and justified its refusal by claiming "we are Calgarians and allowing a group of outsiders to come in and insult a proud Calgary tradition seemed just plain wrong." The Herald reversed its decision a year later, running a full-page ad sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society.
Stampede officials estimated in 2009 that the city of Calgary had a gross economic impact of $172.4 million from the ten-day event alone, with a wider provincial total of $226.7 million. In terms of economic impact, the Stampede is the highest grossing festival in Canada, ahead of Ottawa's Winterlude
, the Canadian National Exhibition
in Toronto, and the Just for Laughs
festival in Montreal. Additionally, Stampede officials estimate that for every dollar spent at Stampede Park, tourists spend $2.65 in the rest of the city. A poll conducted in 2011 found that 40 percent of Calgarians who intended to attend the Stampede expected to spend $150–$400 over the course of the event, and 7 percent stated that they would spend more than that.
claimed in 1944 that the event "had done more to advertise Calgary than any single agency," an opinion that has been echoed by his successors. Stampede officials have made similar claims, arguing that the event is one of Canada's most important tourist attractions. The Canadian Tourism Commission placed the event in its Signature Experiences Collection, one of six such events or locations in Alberta.
According to Ralph Klein, former mayor of Calgary and premier of Alberta, the Stampede symbolizes the province's spirit. He cited the friendly and welcoming attitude and festival spirit of the city's populace during the event, which community booster groups export around the world. Among examples cited was the infamous 1948 Grey Cup
game in which two trains of Stampeder football fans descended on Toronto and launched an unprecedented series of celebrations before, during and after the game that included riding a horse into the lobby of the Royal York Hotel
. The events helped turn the Grey Cup into a national festival and the largest single-day sporting event in the country.
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
, exhibition
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
and festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
held every July in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
, midway
Midway (fair)
A midway at a fair is the location where amusement rides, entertainment and fast food booths are concentrated....
, stage show
Stage Show
Stage Show was a popular music variety series on American television originally hosted on alternate weeks by big band leaders and brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Produced by Jackie Gleason, the CBS-TV show included the first national television appearances by Elvis Presley.The series began as a...
s, concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing
Chuckwagon racing
Chuckwagon racing is an equestrian rodeo sport in which drivers in a chuckwagon led by a team of Thoroughbred horses race around a track. The sport is most popular in the Prairie Provinces of Canada, where the World Professional Chuckwagon Association and the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon...
and First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
exhibitions.
The event's roots are traced to 1886 when the Calgary and District Agricultural Society held its first fair. American promoter Guy Weadick
Guy Weadick
Guy Weadick was an American performer and promoter. Today, he is best known as the founder of the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada.- Early years :Weadick was born in 1885, in Rochester, New York....
launched his first rodeo and festival in 1912 and returned to Calgary in 1919 to organize the Victory Stampede in honour soldiers returning from World War I. It became an annual event in 1923 when Weadick's festival merged with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition to create the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.
Organized by thousands of volunteers and supported by civic leaders, the Calgary Stampede has grown into one of the world's richest rodeos, one of Canada's largest festivals and a significant tourist attraction for the city. Rodeo and chuckwagon racing events are televised across Canada. However, both have been the target of increasing international criticism by animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
groups and politicians concerned about particular events as well as animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
organizations seeking to ban rodeo in general.
Calgary's national and international identity is tied to the event. It is known as the "Stampede City", carries the informal nickname of "Cowtown" and the local Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
team is called the Stampeders
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a Canadian Football League team based in Calgary, Alberta and named in reference to the Calgary Stampede. The Stampeders play their home games at McMahon Stadium...
. The city takes on a party atmosphere during Stampede: office buildings and storefronts are painted in cowboy themes, residents don western wear
Western wear
Western wear is a category of men's and women's clothing which derives its unique style from the clothes worn in the 19th-century American West. It ranges from accurate historical reproductions of pioneer, mountain man, Civil War, cowboy and vaquero clothing to the stylized garments popularized by...
and events held across the city include hundreds of pancake breakfasts and barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
s.
History
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
two years later, attracting a quarter of the town's 2,000 residents. By 1889, it had acquired land on the banks of the Elbow River
Elbow River
The Elbow River is a river located in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River....
to host the exhibitions, but crop failures, poor weather and a declining economy resulted in the society ceasing operations in 1895. The land passed briefly to future Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
R. B. Bennett
R. B. Bennett
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC, KC was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 11th Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930, to October 23, 1935, during the worst of the Great Depression years...
who sold it to the city. The area was called Victoria Park, after Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, and the newly formed Western Pacific Exhibition Company hosted its first agricultural and industrial fair in 1899.
The exhibition grew annually, and in 1908 the Government of Canada announced that Calgary would host the federally funded Dominion Exhibition that year. Seeking to take advantage of the opportunity to promote itself, the city spent C$
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
145,000 to build six new pavilions and a racetrack. It held a lavish parade, rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
, horse racing and trick roping
Trick roping
Trick roping is an entertainment or competitive art involving the spinning of a lasso or lariat. It is particularly associated with wild west shows or western arts in the United States....
competitions as part of the event. The exhibition was a success, drawing 100,000 people to the fairgrounds over seven days despite an economic recession that afflicted the city of 25,000.
Guy Weadick
Guy Weadick
Guy Weadick was an American performer and promoter. Today, he is best known as the founder of the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada.- Early years :Weadick was born in 1885, in Rochester, New York....
, an American trick roper who participated in the Dominion Exhibition as part of the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch
Miller Brothers 101 Ranch
The Miller Brothers 101 Ranch was an cattle ranch in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma before statehood. Located near modern-day Ponca City, it was founded by Colonel George Washington Miller, a veteran of the Confederate Army, in 1893. The 101 Ranch was the birthplace of the 101 Ranch Wild West...
Real Wild West Show, returned to Calgary in 1912 in the hopes of establishing an event that more accurately represented the "wild west" than the shows he was a part of. With the assistance of local livestock agent H. C. McMullen, Weadick convinced businessmen Pat Burns
Patrick Burns (politician)
Patrick Burns was a Canadian rancher, meat packer, businessman, senator, and philanthropist.A self-made man, he built one of the world's largest integrated meat-packing empires, P. Burns & Co., and was one of the wealthiest Canadians of his time...
, George Lane
George Lane (politician)
George Lane was an American-born Canadian politician and rancher and known as one of the Big Four who helped found the Calgary Stampede in 1912.George was foreman at the world famous Bar U Ranch....
, A. J. MacLean
Archie McLean (politician)
Archie McLean was a cattleman, politician and known as one of the Big Four who help found the Calgary Stampede in 1912.Born in southwestern Ontario in 1860, McLean moved to what is now Alberta to work as a ranch hand; soon becoming the manager of the large CY Ranch near what is now Taber,...
, and A. E. Cross
A. E. Cross
Alfred Ernest Cross was a Canadian politician, rancher and brewer, known as one of the Big Four who founded the Calgary Stampede in 1912.-Early life:Born in Montreal, Cross was the oldest of seven children...
to put up $100,000 to guarantee funding for the event. The Big Four, as they came to be known, viewed the project as a final celebration of their life as cattlemen. The city built a rodeo arena on the fairgrounds and over 100,000 people attended the six-day event in September 1912 to watch hundreds of cowboys from Western Canada, the United States and Mexico compete for $20,000 in prizes. The event generated $120,000 in revenue and was hailed as a success.
Weadick set about planning the 1913 Stampede, promoting the event across North America. However, the Big Four were not interested in hosting another such event. Businessmen in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
convinced Weadick to host his second Stampede in their city, but the show failed financially. A third attempt held in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
State in 1916 suffered the same fate. Weadick returned to Calgary in 1919 where he gained the support of E. L. Richardson, the general manager of the Calgary Industrial Exhibition. The two convinced numerous Calgarians, including the Big Four, to back the "Great Victory Stampede" in celebration of Canada's soldiers returning from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Calgary Exhibition and Stampede
While the 1919 Stampede was successful, it was again held as a one-time event. Richardson was convinced that it could be a profitable annual event but found little support for the concept within the board of directors of the Calgary Industrial Exhibition. However, declining attendance and mounting financial losses forced the exhibition board to reconsider Richardson's proposals at their 1922 annual meeting. Richardson proposed merging the two events on a trial basis. Weadick agreed, and the union created the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.The combined event was first held in 1923. Weadick encouraged the city's residents to dress in western clothes and decorate their businesses in the spirit of the "wild west". Civic leaders truly supported the event for the first time: Mayor George Webster
George Harry Webster
George Harry "Cowboy Mayor" Webster was a politician and transportation expert in Alberta, Canada...
followed the costume suggestion and allowed downtown roads to be closed for two hours each morning of the six-day event to accommodate street parties. The new sport of chuckwagon racing
Chuckwagon racing
Chuckwagon racing is an equestrian rodeo sport in which drivers in a chuckwagon led by a team of Thoroughbred horses race around a track. The sport is most popular in the Prairie Provinces of Canada, where the World Professional Chuckwagon Association and the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon...
was introduced and proved immediately popular. 138,950 people attended and the event earned a profit. Over 167,000 people attended in 1924 and the success guaranteed that the Stampede and Exhibition would be held together permanently.
Attendance grew annually throughout the 1920s, peaking at 258,496 in 1928, but the onset of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
resulted in attendance declines and financial losses. After consecutive years of losses in 1930 and 1931, the exhibition board was forced to make cutbacks, a decision that strained the relationship between the board and Weadick. Furthering the divide was Weadick's growing resentment of the board's control of what he considered his event. The issue came to a head in 1932 when Weadick and Richardson engaged in a loud argument over the situation, ending with Weadick's threat to quit entirely. One month later, the exhibition board announced that it had relieved him of his duties. Angered by the decision, Weadick sued the exhibition board for $100,000, citing breach of contract and unfair dismissal. His claim was upheld in courts, but he was awarded only $2,750 plus legal fees. Embittered by the events, Weadick remained at odds with the board for 20 years until he was invited to the 1952 Stampede as an honoured guest and parade marshal.
At least seven movies were filmed at the Stampede by 1950. The most profitable, the 1925 silent film
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
The Calgary Stampede, used footage from the rodeo and exposed people across North America to the event. Hollywood stars and foreign dignitaries were attracted to the Stampede; Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
each served as parade marshals during the 1950s, while Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
made their first of two visits to the event as part of their 1959 tour of Canada. The Queen also opened the 1973 Stampede.
Expansion
The discovery of the Leduc No. 1Leduc No. 1
Leduc No. 1 was a major crude oil discovery made near Leduc, Alberta, Canada on February 13, 1947. It provided the geological key to Alberta's most prolific conventional oil reserves and resulted in a boom in petroleum exploration and development across Western Canada...
oil well in 1946 and major reserves in the Turner Valley
Turner Valley, Alberta
Turner Valley is a town in Alberta, Canada. It is located southwest of Calgary.Situated on Highway 22 , the town was once the centre of an oil and natural gas boom. For 30 years, the Turner Valley Oilfields was a major supplier of oil and gas and the largest producer in the British Empire, but is...
area southwest of the city ushered in a period of growth and prosperity. Calgary was transformed from an agricultural community into the oil and gas capital of Canada. The city's population nearly doubled between 1949 and 1956, and Calgary's immigrant population not only embraced the Stampede, but encouraged friends and family in their home towns to do the same. The 1950s represented the golden age of the Calgary Stampede.
Attendance records were broken nearly every year in the 1950s and overall attendance increased by 200,000 from 1949 to 1959. The growth necessitated expansion of the exhibition grounds. The 7,500-seat Stampede Corral
Stampede Corral
The Stampede Corral is an ice hockey, rodeo, and Davis Cup tennis arena venue in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The arena was completed in 1950 at a cost of C$1.25 million to replace Victoria Arena as the home of the Calgary Stampeders Hockey Club...
was completed in 1950 as the largest indoor arena in Western Canada. It housed the Calgary Stampeders hockey team, which was operated by the Board of Governors and won the Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League (minor pro)
The Western Hockey League was a minor pro ice hockey league that operated from 1952 to 1974. Managed for most of its history by Hockey Hall of Fame member Al Leader, it was created out of the merger of the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Canada Senior Hockey League...
championship in 1954. Acts such as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
and Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
played the Corral, although the arena's poor acoustics were a frequent concern to organizers and patrons.
Improvements were made to the grandstand and the race track was rebuilt in 1954. The Big Four Building, named in honour of the Stampede's benefactors, opened in 1959 to serve as the city's largest exhibition hall in the summer, and was converted into a 24-sheet curling
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
facility each winter. The improvements failed to alleviate all the pressures growth had caused: chronic parking shortages and inability to accommodate demand for tickets to the rodeo and grandstand shows continued.
Attendance continued to grow throughout the 1960s and 1970s, topping 500,000 for the first time in 1962 and reaching 654,000 in 1966. Organizers expanded the event from six days to nine in 1967 and then to ten the following year. The Stampede exceeded one million visitors for the first time in 1976. The park, meanwhile, continued to grow. The Round-Up Centre opened in 1979 as the new exhibition hall, and the Olympic Saddledome was completed in 1983. The Saddledome replaced the Corral as the city's top sporting arena, and both facilities hosted hockey
Ice hockey at the 1988 Winter Olympics
At the 1988 Winter Olympics one ice hockey event was held, men's ice hockey. Games were played at the Olympic Saddledome, the Stampede Corral, and Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.Source:* Gold - * Silver -...
and figure skating
Figure skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Figure skating at the 1988 Winter OlympicsThe events took place at the Stampede Corral and the Olympic Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.-Medal table:-Men's:-Free Skate final standings :Referee:* Sonia Bianchetti...
events at the 1988 Winter Olympics
1988 Winter Olympics
The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in and around Calgary, Alberta, Canada from 13 to 28 February 1988. The host was selected in 1981 after having beat Falun, Sweden and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy...
.
Maintaining the traditional focus on agriculture and western heritage remained a priority for the Calgary Stampede as the city grew into a major financial and oil hub in Western Canada. "Aggie Days", a program designed to introduce urban schoolchildren to agriculture was introduced in 1989 and proved immediately popular. A ten-year expansion plan called Horizon 2000 was released in 1990 detailing plans to grow Stampede Park into a year-round destination for Calgarians; an updated plan was released in 2004. Attendance has plateaued around 1.2 million since 2000, with the current record of 1,262,518 set in 2006. The organization dropped the word "exhibition" from its title in 2007, and has since been known simply as the Calgary Stampede.
Parade
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
in their red serges are joined by clowns, bands, politicians and business leaders. The first Stampede parade, held in 1912, was attended by 75,000 people, greater than the city's population at the time. As many as 350,000 people attended the parade in 2009, while the presence of Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at the 2011 parade as part of their tour of Canada
2011 royal tour of Canada
The 2011 royal tour of Canada by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, took place between June 30 and July 8, 2011. The tour saw the newlywed couple visit all of Canada's regions: Western Canada, Central Canada, Atlantic Canada, and Northern Canada...
increased attendance to a record estimate of 425,000.
Rodeo
The rodeo is the heart of the Calgary Stampede. It is one of the largest, and the most famous event of its kind in the world. With a prize of $100,000 to the winner of each major discipline and $1,000,000 total on championship day alone, it also offers the richest payout. Cowboys consider performing in front of over 20,000 fans daily to be the highlight of the rodeo season. Rodeo events are broadcast nationally by the Canadian Broadcasting CorporationCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
(CBC) on its main network, as well as its specialty channel, Bold.
There are six major disciplines – bull riding
Bull riding
Bull riding refers to rodeo sports that involve a rider getting on a large bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal attempts to buck off the rider....
, barrel racing
Barrel racing
Barrel racing is a rodeo event in which a horse and rider attempt to complete a clover-leaf pattern around preset barrels in the fastest time. Though both boys and girls compete at the youth level and men compete in some amateur venues, in collegiate and professional ranks, it is primarily a rodeo...
, steer wrestling
Steer wrestling
Steer wrestling, also known as bulldogging, is a rodeo event in which a horse-mounted rider chases a steer, drops from the horse to the steer, then wrestles the steer to the ground by twisting its horns. Like all rodeo events, there are concerns from the animal rights community that the competition...
, tie down roping
Calf roping
Calf roping, also known as tie-down roping, is a rodeo event that features a calf and a rider mounted on a horse. The goal of this timed event is for the rider to catch the calf by throwing a loop of rope from a lariat around its neck, dismount from the horse, run to the calf, and restrain it by...
, saddle bronc and bareback riding
Saddle bronc and bareback riding
Bronc riding, either saddle bronc or bareback bronc competition, is a rodeo event that involves a rodeo participant riding on a horse , that attempts to throw or buck off the rider...
– and four novice events – junior steer riding
Steer riding
Riding steers in contrast to using cattle for oxen has an equally long history, although not as well known. Steers were ridden by American Indians such as Blue Duck, who choose to raid farmsteads on a steer knowing that loose cattle around the ranches would help hide his tracks. He would ride off...
, novice bareback, novice saddle bronc and wild pony racing. Each event is organized as its own tournament, and the cowboys and girls are divided into two pools. The first pool competes each night for the first four nights, and the second each night for four nights following. The top four in each pool advance to the Sunday final, and the remainder compete on Saturday for a wild card spot in the final. The competitor with the best time or score on Sunday wins the $100,000 grand prize.
All livestock for the rodeo events come from the 22000 acres (89 km²) Stampede Ranch located near the town of Hanna
Hanna, Alberta
Hanna is a town in east-central Alberta, Canada.The town's main industries are agriculture, oil production, tourism, and coal mining. It is the centre of a large trading area called Short Grass County and is the home of approximately 200 businesses...
. The ranch was created in 1961 as a means of improving the quality of bucking horses and bulls and to guarantee supply. The first of its kind in North America, the Stampede Ranch operates a breeding program that produces some of the top rodeo stock in the world and supplies rodeos throughout southern Alberta, and as far south as Las Vegas.
Rangeland Derby
Chuckwagon racing
Chuckwagon racing is an equestrian rodeo sport in which drivers in a chuckwagon led by a team of Thoroughbred horses race around a track. The sport is most popular in the Prairie Provinces of Canada, where the World Professional Chuckwagon Association and the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon...
in 1923, inspired either by seeing a similar event in 1922 at the Gleichen Stampede
Gleichen, Alberta
Gleichen is a hamlet in southeast Alberta, Canada within Wheatland County. It is located adjacent to the Siksika Nation at the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 547, approximately southeast of Strathmore.- History :...
or watching impromptu races as he grew up. He devised the sport to be a new and exciting event for the newly joined Exhibition and Stampede. Weadick invited ranchers to enter their wagons and crews to compete for a total of $275 in prize money.
Called the Rangeland Derby, and nicknamed the "half-mile of hell", chuckwagon racing proved immediately popular and quickly became the event's largest attraction. While only six teams raced in 1923, today's Rangeland Derby consists of 36 teams competing for $1.15 million in prize money. Joe Carbury
Joe Carbury
Joe Carbury is a renowned rodeo announcer in Calgary, Alberta, and one of the most familiar voices of the Calgary area.He began with radio sports announcing in 1948...
was the voice of the Rangeland Derby for 45 years, until 2008. His distinctive voice and signature phrase of "and they're offfffffff!" to announce the start of a race made him a local legend, and earned him induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. Races are broadcast nationally by the CBC.
The chuckwagon drivers auction advertising space on their wagons before each year's Stampede. The first advertisement on the tarp cover of a chuckwagon was made in 1941, and Lloyd Nelson was the last person to win the Rangeland Derby without a sponsored wagon, doing so in 1956. The current practice of selling advertising via a tarp auction began in 1979. The revenue generated by the auctions, over $2 million for the 2010 Stampede, is considered an indicator of the strength of Calgary's economy.
Exhibition
When the agricultural exhibition was first launched in 1886, Alberta was an overwhelmingly rural province. Today, agricultural producers make up less than two percent of the province's population, but the exhibition remains an integral part of the Calgary Stampede. Nearly half of all visitors attend the exhibition, which is made up of 50 agricultural programs organized by more than 1,000 exhibitors. Numerous competitions are held as part of the exhibition. The American National Cutting Horse AssociationNational Cutting Horse Association
The National Cutting Horse Association is an equestrian organization in the United States that promotes and stages cutting events. It was founded in 1946 at the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show, and put on its first competition that same year at Dublin, Texas.It is currently...
sanctions a World Series of Cutting
Cutting (sport)
Cutting is an equestrian event in the western riding style where a horse and rider are judged on their ability to separate a single animal away from a cattle herd and keep it away for a short period of time.-Description:...
event, and the World Championship Blacksmith Competition attracts top blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
s from around the world. Farm and ranch demonstrations feature numerous breeds of livestock along with stock dog
Herding dog
A herding dog, also known as a stock dog or working dog, is a type of pastoral dog that either has been trained in herding or belongs to breeds developed for herding...
trials and team penning
Team penning
Team penning is a western equestrian sport that evolved from the common ranch work of separating cattle into pens for branding, doctoring, or transport....
competitions.
Additionally, the exhibition serves to educate the public about Alberta's ranching and agricultural heritage along with modern food production displays through events like Ag-tivity in the City. The Stampede works with Alberta 4-H
4-H
4-H in the United States is a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture , with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The name represents...
clubs to encourage youth participation in agricultural pursuits, and has a partnership with Olds College
Olds College
Olds College is an Alberta public post-secondary institution located in Olds, Alberta, established in 1913 as Olds Agricultural College. The College opened its first satellite campus in Calgary in 2006 in partnership with the Calgary Stampede Board....
that includes the operation of a satellite campus at Stampede Park.
Midway
The Calgary Stampede midwayCarnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
has been operated by North American Midway Entertainment, and its predecessor Conklin Shows
Conklin Shows
Conklin Shows was the largest traveling amusement corporation in North America. The 75 year-old company operated 'fun fairs' at various summer agricultural shows across North America and is based in Brantford, Ontario and West Palm Beach, FL. The company has a long history in Canada, providing...
, since 1976. The midway is the only part of the event operated on a for-profit basis. It is considered an essential component of the Stampede, but is separate from the predominantly western theme. The midway opens on the Thursday night before other events begin, known as "sneak-a-peek" night. In addition to the traditional rides and carnival games, the midway features two concert areas: the Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
Stage and Nashville North, which feature rock/pop and country music respectively, and draw acts from all over North America.
Market
The Stampede Market is located in the BMOBank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal , , or BMO Financial Group, is the fourth largest bank in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded on June 23, 1817 by John Richardson and eight merchants in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. On May 19, 1817 the Articles of Association were adopted, making it...
Centre on the northwest corner of the park. It offers 38000 square metres (409,028.6 sq ft) of retail space and in 2011 had 181 vendors selling artwork, toys, household goods, foodstuffs and other items. The Western Oasis, a subsection of the market, offers cowboy and western-themed artwork, bronze statues, craftwork, foods and wine. Lured by the opportunity to show their wares to the one million people who attend the Stampede, some vendors wait years before gaining admittance, and those that do consider it one of the prime events of the year.
Stampede Park
Calgary Transit
Calgary Transit is the public transit service which is owned and operated by the city of Calgary, Alberta. In 2008, an estimated 95.3 million passengers boarded approximately 960 Calgary Transit vehicles , which thus provided 2.31 million hours of service .-History:What would eventually become...
's light rail system
C-Train
C-Train is the light rail transit system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has been in operation since May 25, 1981. The system is operated by Calgary Transit, a department of the Calgary municipal government.-Operations:...
. Permanent structures at the site include the Saddledome and Corral, Big Four Building, BMO Centre – a convention and exhibition facility – a casino, the Stampede Grandstand
Stampede Grandstand
The Stampede Grandstand is a 17,000-seat, plus 8,000 more with standing room, stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It annually hosts the rodeo, the chuckwagon races and the evening Grandstand Show portions of the Calgary Stampede....
, the agriculture building, and a number of facilities that support the exhibition and livestock shows.
The park remains at its original location, though attempts were made to relocate. In 1964, the Stampede Board made plans to purchase former military land in southwest Calgary near Glenmore Trail and 24 Street and relocate the park there. A fully developed plan was released in 1965, and while it had the support of the civic and federal governments, intense opposition from nearby residents quashed the proposal. Space concerns remained a constant issue, and a new plan to push northward into the Victoria Park community beginning in 1968 initiated a series of conflicts with the neighbourhood and city council that persisted for decades.
While Victoria Park fell into steady decline, it was not until 2007 that the final buildings were removed, paving the way for both an expansion of Stampede Park and an urban renewal program for the area. With the land finally secured, the Stampede organization embarked on a $400-million expansion that is planned to feature a new retail and entertainment district, an urban park, a new agricultural arena and potentially a new hotel. The expansion was originally planned to be complete by 2011, but delays and an economic downturn have pushed the expected completion of the project back to 2014.
Stampede Park has long been a central gathering place for Calgarians and tourists. In addition to attendance at the Calgary Stampede, over 2.5 million people attend other sporting events, concerts, trade shows and meetings on a grounds that hosts over 1,000 events annually.
People
Native participation
At each Stampede, the five nations of the Treaty 7Treaty 7
Treaty 7 was an agreement between Queen Victoria and several mainly Blackfoot First Nations tribes in what is today the southern portion of Alberta. It was concluded on September 22, 1877. The agreement was signed at the Blackfoot Crossing of the Bow River, at the present-day Siksika Nation...
– the Tsuu T'ina
Tsuu T'ina Nation
The Tsuu T'ina Nation is a First Nation in Canada. Their territory is located on the Indian reserve Tsuu T'ina Nation 145, whose east side is adjacent to the southwest city limits of Calgary, Alberta...
, Piikani
Northern Peigan
The Northern Peigans or Aapátohsipikáni are a First Nation, part of the Niitsítapi . Known as Piikáni, "Pekuni" or Aapátohsipikáni , they are very closely related to the other members of the Blackfoot Confederacy: Aamsskáápipikani , Káínaa or...
, Stoney, Kainai
Kainai Nation
The Kainai Nation is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada with a population of 7,437 members in 2005, and had a population of 9,035 members as of 9 February 2008...
and Siksika
Siksika Nation
The Siksika Nation is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada. The name Siksiká comes from the Blackfoot words sik and iká , with a connector s between the two words. The plural form of Siksiká is Siksikáwa...
– create an "Indian Village" on the bank of the Elbow River
Elbow River
The Elbow River is a river located in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River....
in the southern section of Stampede Park. They erect tipi
Tipi
A tipi is a Lakota name for a conical tent traditionally made of animal skins and wooden poles used by the nomadic tribes and sedentary tribal dwellers of the Great Plains...
s, organize pow wow
Pow woW
Pow woW is French musical group. Their biggest hit was "Le Chat" in 1992. Their next single was the French version of song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", titled "Le lion est mort ce soir".- Albums :* Regagner les plaines...
s, offer arts and crafts, and re-enact elements of their traditional lifestyle. Each year, an Indian Princess is selected from one of the five nations to represent the Treaty 7 as part of the Stampede's royalty. The village is among the Stampede's most popular attractions.
First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
peoples had been frequent participants in the city's exhibitions since they were first held in 1886, taking part in parades and sporting events and entertaining spectators with traditional dances. By 1912 however, pressure from agents of the Department of Indian Affairs
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for policies relating to Aboriginal peoples...
to suppress their historic traditions and to keep them on their farms nearly ended native participation. Weadick hoped to include native people as a feature of his Stampede, but Indian Affairs opposed his efforts and asked the Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and...
, Canada's Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
, to support their position. The Duke refused, and after Weadick gained the support of political contacts in Ottawa, including future Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
R. B. Bennett
R. B. Bennett
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC, KC was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 11th Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930, to October 23, 1935, during the worst of the Great Depression years...
, the path was cleared.
Hundreds of First Nations peoples, representing six tribes, participated at the 1912 Stampede. They camped in tipis and wore their finest traditional regalia, making them among the most popular participants in the parade. Tom Three Persons, of the Blood (Kainai) tribe, emerged as one of the Stampede's first heroes, amazing spectators with a winning performance in the saddle bronc competition. He was the only Canadian champion of the first Stampede and became the first person to successfully ride Cyclone, a notorious horse that had thrown over 100 riders during its career.
The federal government attempted to prevent a repeat occurrence, modifying the Indian Act
Indian Act
The Indian Act , R.S., 1951, c. I-5, is a Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves...
in 1914 to make it illegal for natives to participate in fairs or parades without permission from the local Indian Agent
Indian Agent (Canada)
Indian Agent is the title of a position in Canada mandated by the Indian Act of that country. An Indian Agent was the chief administrator for Indian affairs in their respective districts, although the title now is largely in disuse in preference to Government Agent. The powers of the Indian...
. The new law ended native participation in the Calgary Exhibition, but when Weadick returned in 1919, he successfully fought for their return to the fairgrounds. Indian Affairs again sought to ban native participation in 1925 without success. While conflicts between the Stampede and Indian Affairs continued until 1932, the Indian Village has remained a staple on the grounds.
First Nations members and the Stampede board have occasionally met with conflict. The original location of the Indian Village was on low-lying ground that frequently flooded, a problem that was not resolved until 1974 when the village was moved its current location. Complaints about low appearance fees paid to tipi owners, lack of input on committees related to their participation and accusations that natives were being exploited have periodically been made throughout the years. The Stoneys famously boycotted the 1950 Stampede following a rule change that cancelled a policy giving any native person free admittance upon showing their treaty card. The event that year was marred by violent thunderstorms, which led to apocryphal stories that the band had performed a rain dance in an effort to ruin the fair.
Despite the conflicts, the native communities around Calgary have been enthusiastic supporters of the Stampede and the Indian Village. The tipi owners have been long-term participants – many are third or fourth generation – and the Stampede has helped preserve and display native culture to the public. The village will again relocate in 2013. It will double in size and feature a new exhibit displaying the partnership between the city, local nations and the Stampede.
Employment and volunteerism
The organization is maintained by a legion of volunteers, however. Over 2,000 volunteers sit on one of 50 committees responsible for all aspects of the Stampede's operation. Chief among them are the board of directors. The board is made up of 25 individuals; 20 elected from amongst the shareholders, three representing the city, one the province and the most recent president of the Stampede board. Nearly half of all volunteers have served for more than 10 years, and some as long as 60.
Young Canadians and the Stampede Showband
When the Calgary Stampede brought in The RockettesThe Rockettes
The Rockettes are a precision dance company performing out of the Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, New York City. During the Christmas season, the Rockettes have performed five shows a day, seven days a week, for 77 years...
from New York as part of the 1964 grandstand show, they auditioned local youth to participate as the "Calgary Kidettes". It was intended to be a one-time addition, but proved immensely popular with spectators, and both The Rockettes and Kidettes returned in the following years. The Kidettes were renamed the Young Canadians in 1968 and not only remained a staple of the grandstand show, but grew into a headlining act by the late 1970s. Within nine years of their creation, the Young Canadians were playing shows throughout Canada and the northern United States and performing in front of over 200,000 people every year. In 1982, the Stampede set up the Young Canadians School of Performing Arts. Supported by both the Calgary public and Catholic school boards, the school offers professional training to singers and dancers between the ages of 7 and 19 paid for by scholarships from the Stampede organization.
The Stampede Showband was created in 1971 to serve as the organization's musical ambassadors. The troupe features over 150 members between the ages of 16 and 21, and has twice been named the world champion of marching show bands. The group has performed all over the world, in front of royalty and world leaders, and at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics
1988 Winter Olympics
The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in and around Calgary, Alberta, Canada from 13 to 28 February 1988. The host was selected in 1981 after having beat Falun, Sweden and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy...
. The Showband performs year round, and make over 100 appearances during the Stampede alone. They will perform in the Tournament of Roses Parade
Tournament of Roses Parade
The Tournament of Roses Parade, better known as the Rose Parade, is "America's New Year Celebration", a festival of flower-covered floats, marching bands, equestrians and a college football game on New Year's Day , produced by the non-profit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association.The annual...
in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
for the third time in 2012 as part of the Stampede's 100th anniversary celebrations. The Stampede Showriders were created in 1985 as a precision equestrian drill team
Equestrian drill team
An equestrian drill team is a group of horses and riders performing choreographed maneuvers to music. Teams typically perform at rodeos, horse fairs, parades, benefits, and drill team competitions. Drill teams are intended to entertain, show sportsmanship, horsemanship, team work and dedication...
and colour guard that accompanies the Showband.
Animal welfare
The Stampede has attempted to balance rodeo tradition against the concerns of Animal welfareAnimal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
groups who argue that the sport is inhumane. Officials defend the sport, calling the animals the "stars of the show" and stating that the Stampede is "passionate about the proper treatment of animals". The Calgary Humane Society has found itself at odds with other organizations by choosing to work with the Stampede to ensure that stress on the animals is kept to a minimum. It is one of two such groups, in addition to veterinarians, who are on hand to monitor the rodeo.
Chuckwagon racing is a particular source of controversy. Animal rights groups protest the event, arguing that the sport causes undue suffering for the horses. Racers admit the sport is dangerous, and it is not uncommon for at least one horse to die during each Stampede. Racers defend their sport amidst the controversy, arguing that the animals are well cared for, and that allowing them to race saves many horses from prematurely going to slaughter.
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a non-profit animal welfare organization originally founded in England in 1824 to pass laws protecting carriage horses from abuse. SPCA groups are now found in many nations, where they campaign for animal welfare, assist in cruelty to animals...
accepted the changes, stating it would not call for the sport to be banned given that Stampede officials had moved to improve animal safety, further changes were announced in 2011.
Tie down roping is a particular focus of efforts to eliminate the event. The Stampede altered its policies in 2010 to enforce the rules of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. Additionally, the Stampede was the first rodeo to introduce a no-time penalty for competitors who make a dangerous tackle in the steer wrestling event. Several more changes were made in 2011, the rule changes were announced after six animals died at the 2010 Stampede and were met with mixed reactions from both cowboys and animal welfare groups.
Such changes have not completely eliminated all risks; periodic accidents have continued to result in the deaths of horses and livestock. One of the deadliest incidents in Stampede history occurred in 2005 when, late in a trail ride meant to help celebrate the province's centennial, a group of about 200 horses spooked and in the melee nine horses were killed after they were pushed off a city bridge into the Bow River
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River, and is considered the headwater of the Nelson River....
. While similar trail rides had been completed without incident in the past, Stampede officials announced they would not attempt any further rides unless they could ensure the safety of the horses.
Animal welfare groups have called animal deaths "depressingly predictable" and seek a boycott of the rodeo. In the United Kingdom travel agencies have been asked to stop offering tourism packages to the Stampede, and in 2010, 92 members of the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Parliament signed an Early Day Motion
Early day motion
An Early Day Motion , in the Westminster system, is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by Members of Parliament for debate "on an early day" . Controversial EDMs are not signed by Government Ministers, PPS or the Speaker of the House of Commons and very few are debated on the floor...
asking their Canadian counterparts to ban rodeo. Several groups petitioned the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to cancel their planned attendance in 2011. However, the couple attended and participated in a private demonstration of rodeo and chuckwagon events.
Community
The festival spirit during Stampede extends throughout the city. Parade day serves as an unofficial holiday as many companies give employees half or full days off to attend. People of all walks of life, from executives to students, discard formal attire for casual western dress, typically represented by Wrangler jeans and cowboy hatCowboy hat
The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with...
s. Many Calgarians have reduced productivity during the event because they take a relaxed attitude towards their usual workplace and personal responsibilities.
Pancake breakfasts
The pancake breakfast is a local institution during Stampede. Dozens are held throughout the city each day, hosted by community groups, corporations, churches, politicians and the Stampede itself. The tradition of pancake breakfasts dates back to the 1923 Stampede when a chuckwagon driver by the name of Jack Morton invited passing citizens to join him for his morning meals.The largest is the breakfast hosted at the Chinook Centre
Chinook Centre
Chinook Centre is the largest enclosed shopping centre in Calgary, Alberta containing over 250 stores, a professional building, and a major theatre complex...
shopping mall. Four hundred volunteers are required to feed over 60,000 people who attend the one-day event that had its 50th anniversary in 2010. Other groups, such as the Calgary Stampede Caravan, feed as many as 120,000 people over ten days. The rising popularity of the barbecue grill in the 1960s and the city's population boom at the time brought with it the growth of community and company barbecues throughout the city during Stampede. Community booster groups have exported the tradition across the country as a symbol of Calgary's hospitality. Among them are the Calgary Grey Cup
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...
Committee, whose volunteers have hosted pancake breakfasts on the day of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
championship game for over three decades, sometimes in spite of poor weather conditions for the November game.
Stampede parties
The size and number of parties each year during Stampede is viewed as an indicator of Calgary's economic strength. Corporations and community groups hold lavish events throughout the city for their staff and clients, while bars and pubs erect party tents, the largest of which draws up to 20,000 people per day. Paul Vickers, who owns several establishments in the city, estimates that he makes up to 20 percent of his annual revenue during the ten days of Stampede alone. Some parties have become known for heavy drinking and relaxed morals, so much so that one hotel's satirical ad promising to safely store a patron's wedding ring during Stampede was widely viewed as a legitimate offer. The parties are not without consequences, as lawyers have noted a significant increase in divorce filings in the weeks following the Stampede, primarily on claims of infidelity. Clinics see an increase in people seeking testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseaseSexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
s, and Calgary is said to experience an annual baby boom each April – nine months after the event.
Relationship with the city
The Stampede has become inexorably linked to the city's identity. Calgary has long been called the "Stampede City", and carries the informal nickname of "Cowtown". The event's iconic status offers Calgary global publicity and plays a significant role in defining the city's image. Calgary's Canadian Football LeagueCanadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
team has been called the Stampeders
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a Canadian Football League team based in Calgary, Alberta and named in reference to the Calgary Stampede. The Stampeders play their home games at McMahon Stadium...
since 1945, and it is a name shared by other teams in various sports throughout the city's history, including the Stampeders hockey team that operated in the years following World War II.
The Stampede has strong polling support within the province. A 2006 Ipsos-Reid
Ipsos-Reid
Ipsos Reid is a research company based in Canada and is the Canadian arm of the global Ipsos Group. Founded in Winnipeg in 1979, the company expanded across the country and became part of the Ipsos Group in 2000....
poll found that 86 percent of Albertans felt that it raised the civic quality of life and considered it one of the region's most important cultural events. Nearly three in four stated they look forward to the annual event. However, critics argue that the themes promoted by the Stampede and within the city are an invented tradition. They suggest that it is not a reflection of Alberta's frontier history, but represents a mythical impression of western cowboy culture created by 19th-century wild west shows and exploited for profit.
Part of the event's success can be attributed to the close relationship the Stampede has often shared with both the civic government and community leaders. Mayors of Calgary and city aldermen have sat on the Stampede Board of Governors at the same time they occupied public office, and the Stampede's ability to convince the city's wealthy and influential citizens to volunteer their time has allowed the organization to gain a high profile within the city. The Stampede operates on city-owned land, pays no property tax on its lease, and typically faces little to no political interference from City Hall. It operates as a non-profit entity with all income reinvested into the park. All improvements to the park would revert to city control if the lease were allowed to expire.
Likewise, the Stampede has support from the media, which has been accused of providing an inordinate amount of positive coverage to the event while trivializing negative aspects. The local media faced national scrutiny in 2009 when both major newspapers refused to run anti-rodeo ads sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society. While the Calgary Herald
Calgary Herald
The Calgary Herald is a daily newspaper published in the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta.- History :The paper was first published on August 31, 1883 by Andrew Armour and Thomas Braden as The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate and General Advertiser. It started as a weekly paper with only...
simply refused to run the ad, the Calgary Sun
Calgary Sun
The Calgary Sun is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a division of Sun Media, a Quebecor company.First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running broadsheet newspaper, The Albertan soon after it was acquired by the publishers of the Toronto...
defended its position in an editorial. The Sun refuted charges it was kowtowing to the Stampede and justified its refusal by claiming "we are Calgarians and allowing a group of outsiders to come in and insult a proud Calgary tradition seemed just plain wrong." The Herald reversed its decision a year later, running a full-page ad sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society.
Economic impact and tourism
While 70 percent of Stampede attendees are from the Calgary region, officials work to promote the event across the globe. As such, the Calgary Stampede is famed around the world. The Stampede draws foreign visitors primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, and is experiencing growing attendance by tourists from Asia and South America.Stampede officials estimated in 2009 that the city of Calgary had a gross economic impact of $172.4 million from the ten-day event alone, with a wider provincial total of $226.7 million. In terms of economic impact, the Stampede is the highest grossing festival in Canada, ahead of Ottawa's Winterlude
Winterlude
Winterlude is an annual festival in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec that celebrates winter.Winterlude is run by Canada's National Capital Commission and was started in 1979. The event is one of Ottawa's most important tourist draws, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year...
, the Canadian National Exhibition
Canadian National Exhibition
Canadian National Exhibition , also known as The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the 18 days leading up to and including Labour Day Monday. With an attendance of approximately 1.3 million visitors each season, it is Canada’s largest...
in Toronto, and the Just for Laughs
Just for Laughs
Just for Laughs is a comedy festival held each July in Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1983. It is the largest international comedy festival in the world.- Information :...
festival in Montreal. Additionally, Stampede officials estimate that for every dollar spent at Stampede Park, tourists spend $2.65 in the rest of the city. A poll conducted in 2011 found that 40 percent of Calgarians who intended to attend the Stampede expected to spend $150–$400 over the course of the event, and 7 percent stated that they would spend more than that.
Promoting Calgary
Civic leaders have consistently made note of the Stampede's impact on the city. Mayor Andrew DavisonAndrew Davison
Andrew Davison was a Canadian politician.-Early life:Davison was born in 1886 in Moneymore, County Londonderry, Ireland. He arrived in Alberta in 1895 and received his education in both Edmonton and Calgary....
claimed in 1944 that the event "had done more to advertise Calgary than any single agency," an opinion that has been echoed by his successors. Stampede officials have made similar claims, arguing that the event is one of Canada's most important tourist attractions. The Canadian Tourism Commission placed the event in its Signature Experiences Collection, one of six such events or locations in Alberta.
According to Ralph Klein, former mayor of Calgary and premier of Alberta, the Stampede symbolizes the province's spirit. He cited the friendly and welcoming attitude and festival spirit of the city's populace during the event, which community booster groups export around the world. Among examples cited was the infamous 1948 Grey Cup
36th Grey Cup
The 36th Grey Cup was played on November 27, 1948, before 20,013 fans at Varsity Stadium at Toronto.The Calgary Stampeders defeated Ottawa Rough Riders 12 to 7....
game in which two trains of Stampeder football fans descended on Toronto and launched an unprecedented series of celebrations before, during and after the game that included riding a horse into the lobby of the Royal York Hotel
Fairmont Royal York
The Fairmont Royal York Hotel, formerly the Royal York Hotel and still often so called, is a large and historic hotel in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at 100 Front Street West. Opened on June 11, 1929, the Royal York was designed by Ross and Macdonald and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway...
. The events helped turn the Grey Cup into a national festival and the largest single-day sporting event in the country.
See also
- Canadian Finals RodeoCanadian Finals RodeoThe Canadian Finals Rodeo is the national championship rodeo in Canada. The CFR takes place in November and is the final event of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association season...
, Canada's other big rodeo - Raymond StampedeRaymond StampedeThe Raymond Stampede is an annual rodeo that is held in the town of Raymond, Alberta, Canada every 1 July. It is notable for being Alberta's oldest and Canada's second oldest rodeo event, having been instituted a full decade before the world-famous Calgary Stampede.The Stampede was first held in...
, Canada's oldest rodeo - Festival Western de Saint-TiteFestival Western de Saint-TiteThe Festival western de Saint-Tite is an annual event held in September, in Saint-Tite, Quebec.It developed from a rodeo inaugurated in 1967 to promote the leather industry.It hosts a major rodeo competition, along with other cultural events....
, eastern Canada's largest rodeo - Festivals in Alberta
- Reg KeslerReg KeslerReg Kesler began his rodeo career at the age of 14 at the Raymond Stampede, competing in the boys steer riding. At the time, it was common for cowboys to compete in many or even all the rodeo events, and Kesler was no exception as he grew into his rodeo career...