YA HOO! Calgary Stampede Rodeo, Chuck wagon races and Night show!

On Tuesday we woke up a little later on in the morning than expected! We took a lot longer to get ready because all week we had been going from National Park to National Park so we never really had a good reason to get dolled up until this day! At 11 or so we headed towards Calgary, Alberta! As we pulled near the stampede we found a great parking spot behind a little restaurant called "Villa Maria's". We decided to eat there and it was the best decision of the day by far! The food there was probably just as good or better than the home made Italian food we had in Italy! It was simply delicious and we were all in shock that it was that good, we were glad that we had the best meals of the trip in Calgary!

After eating we stomped on down to the stampede right in time for the Rodeo! Downtown Calgary was decked out with everything western themed, to attract tourist I guess! Wooden planks spelling out phrases like, "YEE HA and YA HOO and HOWDY were all over town, It was a sight to see for sure. As you walked into the Stampede you passed tons of carnival games and rides and foods you usually see at the fairs in North Carolina; fried candy bars, pizza on a stick and anything your mind can think of. We eventually got to the main stadium and took pictures with the Mounties!

We then found our seats which held a great view of the riding ring. This rodeo was HUGE and way more popular than the one in Montana, I guess it's because the location in a big city and the tradition of this stampede. All the locals compare Calgary to the Dallas of Texas, and we could see why! At the Rodeo The horses were beautiful that paraded in with the "Rodeo Royalty" and the bucking bulls and broncos didn't disappoint us and kept us on the edge of our seats through out the night.

The surprising part of the Rodeo was the only person we saw get hurt was a cowgirl that was barrel racing! Her horse lost footing coming across the end finish line and sent her tumbling off the side into the dirt; the Paramedics had to assist her out of the ring but she was okay.

After the Rodeo was over My Dad got his boots shined and wondered off while my sister Mom and I wondered around and hung out for a while. Austin found an inside of a cowgirl hat that someone had written, "QUEEN OF G.S." on. She wore it around the fair for 10 minutes waving to everyone, getting confused glances and making my Mom and I hysterically laugh!

After a while Austin and I headed back to the van so I could change boots before the other 2 hour show we had at 8 o clock, I made the mistake of wearing high heel boots to the Stampede and my feet were aching like they had never before, so Austin traded with me to walk to the van to retrieve the back-up boots I had packed in the car.


After relieving my feet we were back on the way to the Stampede once again this time for the Chuck wagon races! Wow. Intense doesn't even begin to describe these races. There were 9 heats of 4 wagons with two drivers and four thoroughbreds on each wagon. The wagons display a sponsor or logo on each and the bridals and reigns (for all of you who don't speak horses the things around their faces and neck) on the horses color coordinate for each wagon; that's how my family and I communicated who we thought would win for each race.

 At the beginning of each race the horses are aligned before a barrel and when the gun sounds they have to go around the barrel and then off to the race track. The horses sometimes got tangled up in the reigns and at one point one horse was so caught up it took a group of 12 men to untangle it! Heat after heat I never got used to the extremity of the power of the rumbling hooves and the screams of the crowd and drivers. It was awesome!

After the Chuck Wagon Races they brought out a color guard and the stampede Royalty, the Rodeo Queen Princess and Indian Princess and also some military men and a woman to sing their national anthem, "Oh Canada!"

During Oh Canada a Helicopter flew over the Arena waving the Canadian flag!

After the National Anthem they started to set up the stage for the night show. This was something you would not expect at the Calgary Stampede. The stage was huge and was brought out by massive tractor trailers, and the set was unusual and beautiful! I wish I could show pictures but just in the nick of time my camera died!  The show started and it was like broadway meets Avatar meets Rodeo. It was hard to describe but unforgettable! During one of the opening acts black horses came out of the stage and one didn't have a bridle or halter on at all, it followed it's trainer around while she sang and danced! They were trained so well. At one point during the show the performers were hoisted in the air 40 feet above the audience and were shooting confetti out of cannons and dancing and singing; It was incredible and crazy! The show was awesome, but we left earlier due to the pouring rain.


All in all it was a great experience and I hope we go again sometime as a family, maybe even make it a tradition to go to the Stampede! The only thing is next time we're flying!

-ACJ