Lethbridge Herald

New book captures Stampede spirit

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“A” is for agricultur­e, “B” is for broncs, bulls and barrel racing, and “Y” is for Yahoo!

A new children’s book has been released by writer Jennifer Webster and illustrato­r Karen Coe to capture the spirit of the Calgary Stampede.

It highlights the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth with stories dating back to the first year of the event in 1912.

“I’m very partial to preserving western heritage and teaching the kids about the care that goes into the animals and that sort of thing because I really think a lot of it is being lost and the traditions and the stories still need to be told,” Webster told The Canadian Press.

“Honestly, there’s some really cool stuff about western lifestyle that I think people might really enjoy.”

Webster said the inspiratio­n for the book, called “S is for Stampede,” came from her mother who encouraged her to document the event.

She said while younger children might enjoy the illustrati­ons, it’s mainly aimed at those between the ages of 8-to-14.

Webster took her idea to Stampede’s administra­tors, who gave it the green light.

She admits finding words for every letter of the alphabet proved to be a bit of a challenge.

“It started with the letters of the alphabet and there were some signature things we wanted to capture, obviously, but there were a couple of letters we had trouble thinking of something that was great to come up with for that page,” she said.

“There are obviously ones like chuckwagon­s.”

The letter “E” represents Elbow River Camp, which celebrates Indigenous culture. “W” is for white hats, a locally made Smithbilt cowboy hat given to special guests as an symbol of hospitalit­y by the city.

Coe, who is from Lethbridge, Alta., provided the art for the book. Many of the illustrati­ons were from paintings she had done over the years.

She said filling out the alphabet was difficult. “There were a few that were a little challengin­g but not the ones that you would actually think.

”X“and ”Y“we kind of got those pretty quickly but other letters like ”N“we kind of got hung up on,” she said with a laugh.

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