_edited.jpg)
Every year since 1912, during 10 days , “The Greatest Outdoor Show on the Earth Open their Doors”, to a million visitor all around the world.
The Calgary Stampede is an annual parade, rodeo, stage show, concerts, agricultural competitions, festival, chuck wagon racing and first nation exhibitions held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The event's roots are traced to 1886 when the Calgary District Agricultural Society held its first fair. With the intention of promote the town and encourage farmers from “Eastern Canada” to move “West”.
Guy Weadick organized his first rodeo and festival, known as the Stampede.
He was a famous working cowboy and vaudeville entertainer featured in the traveling wild-west shows that were popular world-wide in the early 1900s.
He also participates in the “Victory Stampede” in honour of soldiers returning from World War I.
He was a man with a dream of celebrating the romance and authentic culture of the old west.
The Stampede we enjoy today has evolved from Guy's vision. He was successful because he understood that as much as things change, we need to believe in the way things were.
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, becoming a really profitable annual event.
Calgary's national and international identity is tied to the event. It is known as the "Stampede City", and also the local Canadian Football League team is called the Stampeders.
During the Stampede, the entire "Cowtown” takes on a party atmosphere: office buildings and storefronts are painted in cowboy themes, residents dress western wear clothes and events held all across Calgary, including hundreds of pancake breakfasts and barbecues.
The official opening is the parade on the first Friday of July every year, the entire community participates on it , from politicians, business leaders, actors, first nation people, clowns, unaccountable marching bands, hundreds of horses, all kind of small and foreign community for every place of the world and the Royal Mountain Police.
Finally this event not only gives or provide “lot of fun” to their who attend it or participate on it, also offers global publicity to the city and plays a significant role in the defining city business image.
If you do have the chance, do not miss the Calgary Stampede this year, and stay until the end, because the exhibition on the Stampede Grounds closes every night with an astounding fireworks show.
If you want to get a better idea about what it is the Calgary Stampede please click the following links.