Chefprefers BLOG

You can tell you’ve reached Calgary long before the welcome sign appears. The towering Rocky Mountains suddenly disappear in the rear-view mirror, the meandering rivers settled and the landscape flattened into an endless ocean of prairie. Wheat and canola fields stretch to the horizon, the roads become ruler-straight, and the sky looks like it has no intention of ending.

After three weeks of mountains, glaciers, and forests, Calgary felt like someone had ironed Canada flat.

But we didn’t come for the scenery. We came for the legendary Calgary Stampede and to see the area.

Before arriving at the Stampede, I thought it was basically a horse-bucking competition with a few people wearing cowboy hats. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This isn’t just a rodeo. It’s a ten-day spectacle that attracts millions of visitors. There are chuckwagon races, concerts, acrobatic shows, agricultural displays, First Nations dancing performances, parades, and enough food stalls to challenge the structural integrity of your arteries.

If it can be deep-fried, smoked, grilled, dipped in chocolate, or served on a stick, someone is selling it.

We bought tickets to two events in GMC Stadium: the thrilling chuckwagon races and evening show, followed by the classic rodeo featuring bull riding, bronc riding, roping, and cowboys making career decisions they’ll probably regret halfway through an eight-second ride.

Walking around the Stampede, I quickly realised one thing. If you weren’t wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, you stood out like a vegetarian at a barbecue.

Guess who forgot both?

The men looked like they had just stepped out of a Western movie, complete with pressed jeans and embroidered shirts. The women somehow managed to make cowboy boots look like high fashion. It was country music brought to life, where everyone looked effortlessly glamorous.

The reality, however, is a little different.

After finishing high school in the 1980s, I spent time working on a sheep farm in Australia. My glamorous cowboy lifestyle consisted of repairing fences, pulling weeds, building hay sheds, cleaning sheep dips, crutching sheep, herding cattle, and discovering muscles I didn’t know existed.

There was nothing romantic about it.

It was hard, dirty, exhausting work, often done alone under a blazing sun. That experience taught me two things. First, farming is one of the toughest jobs on Earth. Second, I was definitely not destined for it.

I had grown up in a large town in Massachusetts, where my greatest challenge was usually staying out of trouble. Life on the farm forced me to grow up quickly. Looking back, I probably learned more there than I ever did sitting in a classroom.

Which made me wonder what real farmers think of the Stampede.

Do they smile at the spectacle, or quietly shake their heads while thinking, “This is what city people think our lives are like?”

Probably a bit of both.

Jokes aside, the Calgary Stampede is a fantastic event. It’s loud, colourful, and proudly celebrates Western culture. Even if you’re an obvious tourist without a cowboy hat, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the atmosphere.

For more info on our trip, see Jen’s facebook post