The Calgary Stampede and Exhibition is a ten day festival, usually from early to mid-July, which draws in more than 1.2 million people from across the globe every year. The long growing tradition of presenting the cowboy arts goes back to 1912 and is now considered the largest outdoor rodeo in the world. The Calgary Stampede is one of Canada’s largest annual events and features rodeo competitions, a midway, live concerts, agricultural competitions, live stage shows, chuck wagon races, and many other amazing attractions. The entire city celebrates the festival with the locals dressing in western attire and decorating many stores and offices.

Calgary Stampede 2008 – ThinkCalgary from Matthew Birks on Vimeo.

Most people might think of the American Wild West when mentioning western culture. However, Canadian history is full of cowboy culture dating back to at least the mid-1800s. It is true that Calgary’s western culture is a bit different from their neighbors to the south, but the many conditions of everyday life were the same. Over time the western activities grew into the modern rodeo equipped with bull riding, barrel racing, roping, and chuck wagon racing; all enjoyed yearly at the Calgary Stampede.

The great Stampede was born from Guy Weadick in 1912. Guy was a famous cowboy and vaudeville entertainer where he performed in the traveling Wild West shows that were widely popular in the early 1900s. His dream of celebrating the romance of the Wild West became a successful vision when the Stampede was created.

Now, every year the Stampede and Exhibitions is filled with thousands of tourists from around the world. The Stampede is host to the famous rodeo where they pay out some of the biggest prize money and always attracts the best riders and ropers around the world, with many of the winners go on to win the National Finals Rodeo in the fall. Some of the events are saddle riding, bareback riding, bull riding, ladies barrel racing, cow milking event, chuck wagon races, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, and the Grandstand Show.

The Stamped Grounds are located in the southeast part of downtown Calgary, called the Beltline District. You can access the park by the Calgary Transits light rail system (the C-train), or by renting parking spaces that the local property owners rent out to visitors during the Stampede. Some permanent structures you will also enjoy exploring at the Stampede site are the Pengrowth Saddledome, the Round-up Centre, the agriculture building, the Stampede Casino, the racetrack, and some other smaller buildings

The thousands of people that travel to “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” are never disappointed. They even book their hotels for the next year to come before they leave to go home. The enthusiastic tourists are what make the Calgary Stamped and Exhibition what it is.