THIS YEAR’S EDITION WAS ONE OF THE GREATS
She’s been to more than 30 rodeos across North America, but it was only this year that Beth Crow finally made it to the Calgary Stampede.
The experience has been nothing short of transformative. “Everyone has been so incredibly kind and generous,” said the native of Oregon, who has spent the past 10 days as an exhibitor, whose display sits just inside Stampede Park’s north entrance.
“We’ve had people bring us food, gifts of maple syrup and a Canadian flag,” she said, her eyes tearing up as she recounted the many acts of kindness, which also included free tickets to the rodeo for her and her co-worker.
“Of all the rodeos I’ve been to, nothing compares to the energy, diversity and friendliness of this.”
On the last weekend of the Calgary Stampede, I had no trouble finding people like Crow; for this longtime Calgarian, it’s refreshing to see our biggest summer event through the eyes of newcomers.
From any perspective, though, the 2017 Calgary Stampede has been a stellar one. The Stampede Parade on July 7 — its choice of the Treaty 7 chiefs as parade marshals described by many as a high-profile step toward reconciliation — went off with few hitches, despite a much steppedup approach to security.
With the exclusion of a couple of downpours and a lightning storm that brought a screeching halt to the Rangeland Derby chuckwagon competition one night, the sunny and hot (sometimes too hot!) weather has been a welcome change from 2016’s soggy Stampede.
Sunny skies, along with 10 days of welcome discounts and deals for a city still mired in an economic downturn, helped to push almost 1.1 million people through the turnstiles before the final day’s tally.
While the strains of the marching bands could be heard every day in various pockets of Stampede Park, Nashville North hosted such local heroes as Corb Lund; Cowboys casino brought in the legendary Beach Boys, while thousands poured into the Saddledome to see such megastars as Usher and Brooks & Dunn, and the Roundup Music Festival hosted ’80s nostalgia group Duran Duran. On the midway, daredevils tried the “Crazy Hot Pizza,” while those with more refined palates filled up local dining spots such as Modern Steak, giving a much-needed boost to the city’s restaurant industry. Visitors filled more than 50,000 hotel rooms, another welcome nudge for the local economy.
Some poor souls got more than they bargained for on a midway ride, after the Mach 3 malfunctioned and seven people were left dangling mid-air for a good half-hour; and sad news hit the chuckwagon competition early in the week, with one horse euthanized after being injured on the first Sunday of chuckwagon competition (as of writing this article Sunday afternoon, it was the lone casualty of the 10 days).
We also said goodbye to two Stampede greats: chuckwagon driver Kelly Sutherland, who wrapped up a stellar half-century career Sunday, and Winston Bruce, the rodeo’s former manager and arena director, who died at age 79 on July 10 after a brief illness.
Still, what so many of those who made their way onto the Stampede grounds and packed local watering holes and party tents will remember is that Calgary Stampede 2017 was one of the greats.
“We’ve been so lucky, the weather’s been fantastic, we’ve been getting attendance records,” said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who I caught up with Saturday at the rodeo. “The quality of the performances at the chucks has been great, as well as the Grandstand Show.”
Nenshi also said he believed some of the renewed energy felt during Stampede has something to do with the fact that “we are ready to be optimistic about the future.”
Even after facing down reporters’ questions about the highly controversial Omar Khadr payout and other hot topics, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was all smiles as he basked in the positive Stampede atmosphere at Saturday’s rodeo.
“Being at Stampede is an opportunity to celebrate the best of western hospitality,” he told me while stopping to autograph the hats of a group of young cowgirls. “I’m a huge fan.”
It’s a sentiment shared by so many regular folks, including Oregonian Beth Crow.
“This is the most international western festival I’ve ever seen,” she said of the event Stampede president and chairman of the board David Sibbald described on Sunday as “one of the best” Calgary Stampedes ever.
“Your whole city gets behind this and shows so much hospitality to people from all over the world.”