Yes, the Calgary Stampede is the country's biggest rodeo. But it's also a 10-day citywide party

Hamilton Spectator

15-05-2025

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'Yahoo!' It's the greeting that rings through the streets of Calgary for 10 days in early July, when roughly 1.5 million attendees (about a third of them out-of-towners) turn this modern and diverse city into a festival of cowboy dress-up, with an influx of legitimate cowboys thrown in for good measure.
Officially branded as 'the greatest outdoor show on Earth,' the
Calgary Stampede
is a celebration of what is usually described as 'Western culture,' in the form of an agricultural fair and rodeo competition.
It is also a midway carnival filled with rides and various combinations of fried foods on a stick; one of Canada's largest music festivals; an occasion to swan around the city in chic Western regalia; a parade (marshalled this year by Shania Twain) that takes over downtown streets for an entire morning; plus a big ol' party where the distinction between weekdays and weekends all but disappears.
Visitors will undoubtedly spot — and perhaps even take cues from — drunken revellers stumbling around in stiff cowboy boots and cheap straw hats. But beyond the partying, the non-profit organization behind the Stampede also brings a sense of family fun and community engagement.
The sun sets over the 26 tipis at Elbow River Camp on Stampede Park.
Initiatives include the Pop-up Neighbours campaign (to welcome new Canadians with a literal welcome wagon), respectful Indigenous programming (such as an on-site tipi camp), and daily, free pancake breakfasts at community centres throughout the city. It's a choose-your-own-adventure, and no two visitors' Stampedes will look exactly the same.
Much of the Stampede's continuing allure is the combination of its reverence for history — the event dates back to 1912 — and a willingness to evolve. This involves both the official Calgary Stampede (the entertainment, rodeo, midway and exhibitions on Stampede Park) and the more generalized Stampede spirit permeating nearly every corner of the city.
On Stampede Park, recent changes include the opening of the newly expanded BMO Centre, which will be home to a retail market, cultural performances and a 'relaxation zone,' as well as the relocation of the Coca-Cola Stage, a free-with-park-admission music venue that last year hosted artists from Orville Peck to G-Eazy.
A performer in 'Starslingers' by Le Cirque de la Nuit, a theatrical production at the BMO Centre during the 2024 Calgary Stampede.
Defying any lingering redneck stereotypes, for over a decade the on-park Nashville North concert venue has hosted a dedicated Pride Day, complete with superstar drag performances. And to add a different kind of agricultural product to the fair, the Stampede launched an international wine competition in 2024, with winning bottles served throughout the park.
A growing number of Alberta businesses are also joining in the revelry. Eau Claire Distillery, for example, makes a Stampede-branded whisky with locally grown rye, now served within the Stampede grounds and at restaurants and bars around the city. 'Whisky sales soar during Stampede,' says Eau Claire's president David Farran. 'It's like another Christmas for us.'
One of the biggest off-park developments over the past decade has been the proliferation of massive event tents sprinkled through the inner city. The Stampede has always had a strong musical element, with major artists playing free stages on Stampede Park and ticketed concerts at the Saddledome, but many off-park concerts were once the domain of invite-only corporate events.
These days, there are publicly accessible, temporary venues such as Badlands, the Wildhorse Saloon and, the daddy of them all, the Cowboys Music Festival (expanding to a new location for 2025). They form the heart of what some have affectionately dubbed 'Cowchella,' with headliners representing rock, EDM, hip-hop and, of course, country music. These venues have the capacity to host thousands of people every night of the Stampede.
'Stampede wasn't always something that catered to everybody. But now it does,' says Jon Molyneux, vice-president of business development, sales and events at the Concorde Group. His hospitality company, which runs the Wildhorse and National Saloon tents, has booked bands like the Violent Femmes and the Strumbellas to play this summer. 'There's a lot for people not strictly into country music.'
Metric performs in front of thousands of fans at the Coca-Cola Stage on Stampede Park during the 2024 Calgary Stampede.
Think of the Stampede as Canada's Mardi Gras: Tradition is certainly part of the charm, but there's more to this cultural rodeo than, well, rodeo. Even if it just means traversing Calgary's other sights with the dull roar of a party in the background, there's no other citywide celebration quite like it.
'I don't think there's anywhere in the world that a whole city gets together to celebrate for this long,' Farran says. 'Calgary basically stands still, so everyone can enjoy themselves for those 10 days.'
Elizabeth Chorney-Booth is a travel writer and lifelong Calgarian who long resisted the Stampede but finally fell in love with the festival.