So we set off on the primary goal of this voyage, the Calgary Stampede. This is a two week festival of all that is related to rodeo, with a fairground and unhealthy eating thrown in. The audience is around twenty thousand for each of the two daily sessions, one in the afternoon and one in the evening for fifteen days. Prize money is available for each event every day, with the best performing cowboys and cowgirls for each event going forward to the grand final on the last day. Some of the earnings attributed to the participants is astounding, no doubt with sponsorship money on top these men an women are able to earn millions, but the risks appear significant even on one days viewing.
We park the car at a park and ride station, and take the Calgary LRT train to Stampede Park, an efficient, clean and cheap mode of transport. As we near the event the carriage fills up, room is getting scarce due to everybody wearing their cowboy hats (me included).
We enter the park, and immediately inside is a First Nations village of tipis and a few stalls selling knickknacks. The tipis do seem to be viewable, but we may be a little early as they are all closed. We wander along the avenues of fairground rides, games of chance and skill towards the food stalls. Here they sell a variety of food, most of it fried. We heard on the television yesterday that the cockroach pizza will not be available this year. It would appear the roaches, being imported from the USA, did not complete the customs formalities prior to the start of the Stampede. This is a shame as I was really looking forward to trying this delicacy. Apart from this pizza other choices included; donuts topped with cheese jalapeno peppers and gravy, frankfurters on a stick dipped in a thick corn batter and fried, deep fried dill pickles (wallies), giant onions dipped in batter and fried, donut ice cream lollies, cheese toasties made with donuts instead of bread, giant smoked turkey legs, fifteen inch hot dogs wrapped in bacon, and one stall that seemed to specialise in frying anything sweet including cheese cake. Vegetables are nowhere to be seen here. To reinforce the point the MC comments during the show later that “green food is what my food eats”, the roar from the crowd seems to suggest he is not alone in holding that view.
We opt for a pulled pork roll, and a giant fried onion. Our vegetable side dish is a fried dill pickle coated with cornmeal served with a ranch style dressing and we sit at a shady table in the bar area. After eating I wander over to the mechanical bull riding machines and watch the entertainment and take a few pictures. A short while later we enter the auditorium and take our seats. There is a little confusion here with a number of people sitting in the correct row and seat numbers, but in the incorrect blocks. We do a bit of seat swapping with smiles all around. The entertainment starts with a band striking up before an exhibition of First Nations dancing, a parade of the participants and then the singing of the National Anthem. This being the Fourth of July, and as the rodeo circuit seems to be mostly comprised of American individuals, the Star Spangled Banner was also sung.
And now, formalities completed, the action can begin. For the next three hours we witness feats of extraordinary skill and bravery. The manner in which the cowboys ride the bucking horses and bulls is astounding. Not all of them succeed, and some leave the arena in obvious pain, even though they do not wish to show it. The large screen and the television cameras zooming in does not help them in maintaining their dignity. The danger is not limited to the cowboys and girls however. During the interval a young lady riding around the arena carrying a flag has a mishap and somehow comes off her horse. She is unconscious on the dirt for ten minutes or more while the medical team fit a brace around her neck and back and get her onto a stretcher.
A band is playing some Country and Western standards now, some of the audience retire to the bars and food outlets and return with their hands full. Hawkers also move through the aisles selling fresh lemonade, beer, popcorn and candy floss.
After the interval the competition resumes. The second event is the ladies barrel racing. A sprint of around seventeen seconds at full tilt, with the cowgirls having to complete a turn around three barrels forming a cloverleaf like shape. The angles that the horse and rider assume when performing the sharp turn is astounding. There is an outright star of this event, a lady from Texas named Fallon Taylor, the current World Champion. This being the “fourth”, she is resplendent with red hair extensions and a glittery stars and stripes outfit. Everywhere she moves around the stadium, she is pursued by adoring fans eager for autographs, photographs and selfies. Unfortunately in competition she does not win, coming third behind a lady from New Zealand.
The bull riding competition next, and this really is a hit and miss event for the cowboys. It appears that not many of the competitors complete a ride. At one point a bull being taken out of the arena runs amok on the way back to the holding pens, the marshal and his horse escorting the bull do not return.
As the competition closes the skies are darkening. We were told earlier in the day that the Calgary weather can be unpredictable, but what happens next comes as a surprise, even to the locals. We are in the concourse below the stadium seats and there is a blockage at the doors, no one wants to exit. We get close to the doors and see why, their is a hailstorm outside, some people trying to get in are soaked, some with their shoes full of water. After a while we get outside to see the ground white with the hailstones. A gentleman who appears to be a little under the influence is shouting and making a snowman with the hail. He laughs as I take his picture. We move along towards the station, and take pictures at the First Nations village again, this time with the grass covered.
We get the train and return to the car for our journey back to Canmore. We are having a debrief on today’s experience. I venture the opinion that whilst I am glad I went, I find aspects of it rather distasteful; the commercialisation, the exploitation not just of the animals, the assertion that this is somehow part and parcel of life on a farm, which it is plainly not. Entertaining it is, but it is also highly commercial and stage managed.
Later in the day we hear that a horse taking part in the Chuck Wagon Racing in the evening show which we did not get tickets for had a leg crushed in the race and had to be put down. I am thankful we were not there to witness that.