Belated Photos: The Calgary Stampede

Collin and I mosied on over the the Calgary Stampede during it's opening weekend.  We had thought about getting tickets in advance, but never quite got our acts together enough to do so, thinking perhaps we could just get them on the day.

Packed stadium for the earliest rodeo events.

That was a mistake, because the line for rodeo tickets was halfway down the midway by 11am.  Plus, there had been a lot of headlines about horses dying and accusations of general animal cruelty.  I know, I know - rodeos are a fine tradition, we have a history of being a ranching culture, those animals are treated better than they are on the farm (...and the revenue from a million tourists is quite handy to have..?).  Here's the thing: when cruelty happens on a farm, I haven't paid to take part in it.

Not that I said any of this at the time, swept away as I so often am by a wave of CULTURE!  But thinking back, I don't mind that we missed it.  I later learned that even more horses (4, I think) had to be put down when the chuck wagons collided during a race and they were irreparably injured.  So.

But what did we see?  Well, there was the annual poutine, of course.  It's thick-cut potato fries with cheese curd and brown gravy on it, and is, I suspect, the best evidence that Quebecois hate all non-francophones and their arteries.  It's nearly a biological weapon.

That did not stop Collin from getting some anyway.

Thus (questionably) fortified, we headed over to the First Nations encampment at the far north part of the grounds.  There several groups of girls making bannock around some campfires.  I didn't realize that representatives from each of the Plains tribes actually camp in their teepees during the stampede.  So, although I guess they don't really mind, I still felt a little awkward looking through their camp.  I did take a picture of a teepee, though.

A teepee.  Ooh, I can add captions!

There were also several native artists demonstrating their gorgeous bead and quill work.  I asked one elderly lady if she ever got headaches from all that close work, and she said no, but sometimes it was hard sitting for so long to finish things.  I hear ya!

During the day, we explored all of the exhibitions (sadly, no giant rabbits, but So. Many. Clydesdales.), as well as the World Sheep Shearing Competition and the World Blacksmith Championships:

World Championships, but contestants were all from Canada, the UK and Switzerland.

One of my favorites again this year was the art exhibits.  Many painters and sculptors were in the hall, doing live demonstrations of their craft (particularly interesting to see how artists frame for a bronze statues).  The textile arts were very impressive, as well, including this quilt to commemorate the Stampede's 100th Anniversary:

We had a fun day out, managing to avoid sunburn or dehydration, which just proves we're getting better at this Stampeding business.

Next Up: Downtown Calgary, and photos added to Bow River Walk.