‘A punch in the gut’
COVID-19 forces cancellation of Calgary Stampede
CALGARY — Hell or high water couldn’t stop the Calgary Stampede, but a virus will.
Stampede president and board chair Dana Peers announced Thursday that the COVID-19 pandemic means the biggest event of the summer won’t go ahead.
Calling off Stampede is unprecedented. The event has never been cancelled since it became an annual event nearly a century ago. Even in 2013, when devastating flooding damaged many of the buildings on Stampede grounds days before the festival, the celebrations went on.
“It was not a decision we came by lightly, but it is a decision in the best interest of public health and safety,” Peers said. He added that the organization is now looking to possible events in the fall and winter, as well as the 2021 Stampede.
“I promise you that this is not the end to Stampede spirit this year, or in years to come.”
Many Calgarians have questioned for weeks how Stampede could possibly go ahead considering the risks of COVID-19. The festival records more than one million attendees every year — including spectators, vendors and rodeo competitors from all over the world — and Alberta currently has a 15-person limit for any gatherings.
The province’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday afternoon that the restrictions on mass gatherings in Alberta means summer events and festivals can’t happen this year.
That’s because the virus that causes COVID-19 can “spread like wildfire” in large groups of people, she said.
“We’ve seen that festivals and large gatherings hold the potential to be ‘super spreader’ events, where one sick person can expose many others to the virus.”
It’s unclear how long publichealth restrictions will last, but COVID-19 cases in Alberta are still increasing. Experts have said that life likely won’t return to some semblance of normal for many months.
The province has projected that Alberta will hit the peak of novel coronavirus infections in late May.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi called Stampede’s cancellation “a punch in the gut for us all,” but added it’s the right thing to do to keep the community safe.
“To stand here and say there will be no Stampede for the first time in 97 years, well, that’s very, very, very tough.”
Stampede is the biggest event to fall because of COVID-19, but numerous other Alberta festivals have been cancelled or postponed in recent days. The Calgary Folk Music Festival and Edmonton’s K-days also announced cancellations Thursday.
The Sled Island music festival and the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo have also been called off this year.
The Stampede represents $540 million of economic benefit for the province every year, and some local businesses rely on the festival for a significant piece of their annual revenue. Some have raised concerns that they’ll be forced to close without it.