Calgary Stampede 101

If you live in Alberta, or if you’ve been watching the news for Alberta, or if you’ve read my blog before, you will know that we just had a TERRIBLE disastrous flood here in Calgary (and many other places in Southern Alberta). The area around the Calgary Stampede Grounds was hard hit, and we thought that the Stampede was going to be a No-Go. At least, on the first couple of days.

But then, the sun came out, and the water started to recede, and the Mayor and the City officials said, “Nope- the Show must go on”.. Not only is it good financially for the City, but it’s also great for morale.

And now, look at us! Stampede Sneak-a-peak is set for tomorrow night! ($8, July 4, 5pm to midnight). And the streets that were just flooded a few weeks ago are now hosting the Parade on Friday!

And why? Because, as the Calgary Stampede facebook page says: “The spirit of this city cannot be washed away. As floodwaters recede, community spirit continues to run high. The power of people is rebuilding this community – along with Stampede Park.” The statement ends with: “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth WILL go on.”

And, despite the warning, “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys” (that’s Waylon Jenning’s and Willie Nelson’s advice to the general populace), off we rush to the Stampede!

They say the reasons are “They’ll never stay home and they’re always alone…Lonestar belt buckles and old faded Levis”…

But, if you grew up in Montana (or another other cowboy country – Alberta, Wyoming, etc), OR if you grew up in the city somewhere but happened to watch Electric Horseman, with a young(er) Robert Redford (sigh), then that advice is probably ignored…or, at least, maybe that cowboy tipping his hat can give your heart a little flutter… or, if cowboys aren’t your thing, what about Daisy Duke (either the original or the Jessica Simpson version) – you have to admit – there’s something about faded jeans and cowboy boots…(could maybe replace that lyric about belt buckles with boots… that’d be more appropriate for me.)

Despite my love for jeans and boots, and despite the fact that I grew up in Montana, and despite the fact that I had a TREMENDOUS crush on a certain cowboy when I was 12-15 (if any of you know or remember who that is, shhhhhhhh), I didn’t own a pair of boots until I moved to Calgary and was preparing to go to my first Stampede… now I have a good collection…

Calgary is (technically) a cowboy town, stemming back to “Once upon a time”, in the late (it seems) 1800′s. In fact, one of its nicknames (which some people hate and some love) is “Cowtown.” To celebrate that, there is a “parade” of Cow sculptures (all individually painted by various local artists), called Udderly Art, now on display at The Legacy Pasture, in the +15 walkway, north side of 9th Avenue, between 5th and 6th Street, S.W.

I think some don’t like it because it makes the town sound…well, like a “town”, and perhaps a town reeking of cow manure and agriculture…

Not everyone in town is a Cowboy/girl, but during Stampede everyone does find SOMETHING Stampede-y to wear. Even in the corporate downtown, suits and ties are replaced with jeans & boots.

It’s a great time to be a local “sightseer”… sigh.

Except the traffic. And the dust. And the tourists going the wrong way on a one way (almost all the streets downtown are “one-ways”.)

To make up for it, though, there is the jeans and boots (have I mentioned that already?), and free breakfasts of pancakes and sausages and coffee, and barbeques of burgers and pulled-pork sandwiches, all over the city!

People are less rushed – more “moseying” around, tipping their hats, waiting patiently in lines, hooting it up here and there!

And then, there’s the Stampede itself!

This year’s Stampede is July 5-14, and is the 101st year! Before The Flood, I hadn’t decided if I was going yet or not – I used to go at least once a year, and then, one year, I went every day… and wore myself out. But NOW! I’ll definitely be there! (In fact, really great friends just gave us their tickets to the Grandstand Show, which I've never actually seen... Too bad they had to give them up, but yay for us! THANK YOU!)

The Stampede is more than just a rodeo and agriculture fair. It IS the biggest outdoor show on the planet – last year’s attendance was over 1.4 million…GOODNESS!) – it also includes a LOT of music venues, beer gardens, Mid-way rides, fair-food (you have GOT to have “Those Little Donuts”), art shows, an Indian Village and the Hoop Dances…oh! and the Chuckwagon Races & Grandstand Show. You can go year after year and never go to the actual rodeo.

It’s not always just country music at the Stampede either – this year, along with the Dixie Chicks and Tim McGraw, is KISS…. Ummmm… THAT SHOCKS ME!! How about that! (****I don't want to delete this paragraph, just in case things change, but I just read that all of the concerts that were being held within the Saddledome have had to be cancelled, due to the flooding :( That's so terrible. Not surprising. But very sad... However, Google that - maybe they'll find another venue, or as the days go by, they'll be able to go on as scheduled.****)

My favorite thing to watch is the aforementioned Hoop Dancing in the Indian Village. (Not sure about the “politically correctness” of this name, but that’s what it’s called.) The website says it’s been a part of the Stampede since the Stampede started, in 1912. “It is a great way for visitors to experience the First Nations traditions and culture first hand”.

Another highlight is the Parade. It will be on Friday, the 5th of July … Apparently, you can reserve a nice seat for the parade OR you can really appreciate the whole Stampede experience and show up with everyone else, 3 hours before the parade starts, and elbow your way to the front. (Last year, an estimated 300,000 showed up to watch the parade.) I’ve only gone once, because I don’t want to be down at my spot at 7am, every year.


This year’s Parade Marshall is Canadian Astronaut (the first Canadian astronaut to walk in space), Chris Hadfield.

Scattered around town are various … Stampede parties – here and there – at “saloons”! Now, I’m not saying I recommend these places, but two top country/cowboy places people go are Cowboys and Ranchmans (… go to their websites and check out this year’s Stampede line-up!)
…

By the way, there’s a Calgary Stampede app for your cell phone – it includes GPS, so you can navigate the Park… so you won’t miss a thing.

Oh goodness – so, I went to check out the app, and I found a second app that tells you where to find all the free Stampede Pancake Breakfasts in the city. The app is still set for 2012 (probably too soon for the upcoming 2013 Breakfast season), but last year, there were over 190 Breakfasts to choose from!!

Don’t forget to stay awake for the nightly fireworks show over the Stampede Grounds (following the Grandstand show)!

That’s Stampede 101. Come on down and enjoy the show!

“Yukon Ho!” Roadtrip, Total Animal Sightings

..

Back to the "Yukon Ho!" Adventure...

 

Here's the thing: Before we actually made it home, we also went into Banff, had lunch, went to the Candy Store, ate fudge...etc.. and I planned to write about Banff and Canmore now... but I don't feel like it. Right now, when I think of Banff and Canmore, I can only think "flood" and "mudslide" and so I'm going to save that segment for another time. We go there all the time, anyway, so it's not like this is my only time to talk about that VERY BEAUTIFUL area.

 

And, so ends the great Yukon Adventure.

 

As I’ve mentioned throughout this particular trip off and on – we saw TONS of animals! TONS!!

 

I didn’t show any pictures because I decided to wait till the conclusion. There’s not a lot to say about them, but here there are, “without further ado” :

 

Black Bear, the Ursus Americanus, native to North America (we saw 10).

Moose, the Alces alces (apparently, the Alces alces in Europe is an Elk, but in North America, a Moose)…we saw 4, including the baby moose.

Elk, the Cervus canadensis… THIS is an Elk. (We only saw 1. This one doesn’t have antlers, but if you want to see a picture with antlers, either Google, or check out my Jasper blog…it’s a dark picture but may be the biggest elk I’ve ever seen…)

Found another elk picture from another Jasper trip:

Deer, the Mule (Odocoileus hemionus) and the White tail (Odocoileus virginianus). We saw 8, but I can’t remember how many of each…

Coyote (pronounced “Kai-o-tee”), the Canis latrans, is also called an American Jackal (I didn’t know this!). We saw 3.

Caribou, the Rangifer tarandus… is also called a Reindeer… I didn’t know this either… We saw 7.

Buffalo, the Bison bison…we saw 14 adults and 1 baby.

Mountain Goat, the Oreamnos americanus. We saw 4.

 

Dall Sheep, the Ovis dalli (or maybe they are Bighorn Sheep, the Ovis canadensis?).. Technically, the Dall Sheep are northern, and the Bighorn Sheep are southern, but “southern” includes parts of middle British Columbia… Anyway, we saw 4.

Golden Eagle, the Aquila chrysaetos. We saw a bunch of birds – ravens, hawks and tons of the little ones, too, but I’m just including the Eagle. We only saw one. In fact, in my whole life, I’ve never seen a Golden Eagle. This is my first one. And, actually … until a few minutes ago, I thought I had taken a picture of a Bald Eagle, the Haliaeetus leucocephalus. Huh.

Golden Eagle, the Aquila chrysaetos. We saw a bunch of birds – ravens, hawks and tons of the little ones, too, but I’m just including the Eagle. We only saw one. In fact, in my whole life, I’ve never seen a Golden Eagle. This is my first one. And, actually … until a few minutes ago, I thought I had taken a picture of a Bald Eagle, the Haliaeetus leucocephalus. Huh.

We also saw 2 Grizzly Bears, the Ursus arctos horribilis.. It seems a bit harsh, don’t you think, to call them “horribilis”?… My pictures of them are terrible (horrible ), since I didn’t want to roll down the window to take the pictures, and I just got blur and smudge. But, if you haven’t seen an actual Grizzly or a picture of one before, I have a blog about them ~ Montana Grizzly Encounters.

Well! That’s it! so concludes this particular road trip. We were safely home in Calgary, and Richard & Shannan and crew continued on to Michigan.

 

You may recall that before I started writing about the Yukon to Calgary Roadtrip, I was writing about a tour around the Big Island of Hawaii, but had a complication with my Hawaii photos. Complication resolved. Back to Hawaii next time.

 

 

Calgary Comes Together

I just want to announce: We survived!

 

There’s a lot to deal with after The Flood, and Calgarians are responding in overwhelming ways!

 

For example: early Monday morning, the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) announced that they needed volunteers to meet at McMahon Stadium to hand out information packets to displaced people who would (eventually) be returning home. They expected around 600.

 

Thanks to social media sites, around 3,000 people had arrived by 10am, all ready with boots and gloves, to start the Clean-up.

 

There’s so many examples of that. So many reception centers have had to put notices on line that they can no longer take donations, because the generosity of the people has outweighed storage space. (Not including, of course, monetary donations, which are always needed…and easily stored…)

 

There are specific websites, too, that are very specific with their “needs” lists, so you don’t have to use your imagination.

 

There’s also sites for WHERE to go to volunteer:
http://www.yychelps.ca/
http://volunteercalgary.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/calgary-flood-donation-drop-off-points-and-wish-lists/
Calgary Flood Cleanup 2013

 

(There was a pamphlet that outlined important information for volunteers…it included what to expect, what to wear, and how to protect against grime and contaminants…I can’t find it now, but if you are going to volunteer – you should find it!! Or if someone reading this finds it, please add it in the comments! Thanks!)

 

AND, there’s also websites set up for the reuniting of pets with their families.
Calgary Flood Lost/Found Pets & Fostering
Horizon Veterinary Group and Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (These sites aren’t specific about the flood, but include separated pets)

 

Using these sites, I had the very exciting privilege, yesterday, to help a puppy reunite with his family. I was browsing Calgary Flood Lost/Found Pets & Fostering on Facebook and, in passing, I saw a message from Horizon Veterinary Group about a Found pet that was the same breed and seemed to have the same expressions, etc., so I called the owner and next thing I know, he’s on his other line with the Veterinary Clinic that had the puppy, and was going to go pick him up!

 

It’s not all Clean-up. There are still power outages (as of noon on July 25th, there were still 18,500 people without power), and there are many who can’t go home yet.

 

We are kept informed by news media sites that are kept up-to-date, so we aren’t overwhelmed by not knowing.
The City of Calgary
http://www.calgarycitynews.com/ and CTV News
660News
http://www.emergencyalert.alberta.ca/
http://alberta.ca/Recoveryinformation.cfm

 

 

And, the Zoo still has no power, many areas of the Zoo are still considered dangerous, AND they are having the added pressure of trying to move the animals back to their homes, without additional stress to the animals. Their current news release says they have enough manual help (for now), but financinal donations can be made at http://www.calgaryzoo.com/. (Apparently, the giraffes are highly sensitive and stressed out, and are having a hard time adjusting The Zoo people say that they seem to be recovering now, though, thankfully.)

 

In the meantime, volunteers are showing up all over the city – people are bringing food and coffee and water to the sites. If they can’t stay to do the work, they are dropping off supplies.

 

Awwww – and I just found a new bunch of websites that are people offering free services – like pumping out basements (Action Auger and Boreal Vac & Pressure Services, and maybe others, in case I miss someone) and repairing computers (Clever Concierge), to name a few - to Flood Victims.

 

There are tons of fundraisers going on – I can’t even list everything. Lots of concerts, restaurants, etc.

 

Sigh. These things are all making me teary…

The Calgary Stampede is coming up, and many wondered if the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth would go on (since just recently the Stampede Grounds were completely under water) and Mayor Nenshi has confirmed that “Yes, the Show must go on.” And, I’m not sure who added the “Come Hell or High Water” comment after that, but you can get that on a t-shirt now, with proceeds going to Flood Victims and Clean-up.

 

And did you notice the picture of the poster at the beginning of my blog? THAT is TODAY!!!!