> WHEN YOU GO

The 2017 Calgary Stampede (calgarystampede.com) runs July 7-16 and tickets are already on sale. Here’s how you should spend your day.

Start with a pancake breakfast: You will find a free pancake breakfast at pretty much every shopping mall, community centre and downtown corner throughout the Stampede. Expect flapjacks, sausage, coffee and juice along with country bands, maybe some native hoop dancing and even a visit from rodeo cowboys and the Stampede Queen and Princesses (cowgirls who travel the world the rest of the year promoting the Stampede).

Get your groove on: Every bar in town sets up a tent and brings in bands. There are giant parties at Fort Calgary. On the Stampede grounds you’ll find Nashville North, Coca-Cola Stage and big acts in the Saddledome Get to the grounds: Whether it’s mini doughnuts, deep-fried Mars bars or good old-fashioned beef on a bun, you can find plenty of food at Stampede Park, along with midway rides for every age and adventure level. There is also shopping, a kids’ zone, a full schedule of agricultural events (from heavy horse pulls to sheep shearing), as well as halls full of arts and crafts.

Cheer on a cowboy at the rodeo: For 10 days straight, people flock to Stampede Park for the afternoon rodeo’s six events: ladies barrel racing, bareback, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc and bull riding. You can cheer on the cowboys any way you like, but the locals always say “Yahoo” and never “Yeehaw.”

TransAlta Grandstand Show: In the evening, it’s time for the family-friendly Grandstand Show with the Young Canadians singing and dancing, lightshows, acrobatics and of course, fireworks.