Calgary Stampede: flood damage repaired, the spectacular event is ready to go

There’s just one day to gountil the start of the “greatest outdoor show on Earth”.

The Calgary Stampede is a huge ten-day annual extravaganza which showcases western culture and skills, mixed in with a bit of a carnival atmosphere, and grandstand entertainment shows. It begins July 5^th, but even just a week ago, there was some doubt about it even happening.

Calgary along with many areas of southern Alberta , suffered major and catastrophic flooding this year.  The stampede grounds, outdoor arena, and the Saddledome indoor arena were all completely inundated with water and mud

However, in the past few days as the flood passed, massive pumping, clean up and rebuilding has been going on, and as the motto says, come hell or high water, the Stampede, with its chuck wagon races, bullriding, midway, and grandstand shows, is back on track!    Kurt Kadatz is the Director of corporate communications for the Calgary Stampede.

Listen

For a while, things were all completely in doubt. The grounds and arenas were completely covered in thick layers of mud under water which ranged anywhere from a few cm to over 2 metres deep in places.

As the peak flood passed and water began to recede, teams of workers and volunteers came in and a hectic pace of cleanup,restoration and sanitizing was carried out day and night.

Such was the level of activity that by mid week, midway rides, vendors and participants were beginning to come onto the grounds to set up.

The Saddledome however was heavily damaged by floods and won’t be ready for the opening few days, which has forced the rescheduling of four concerts, and the cutting horse event.

The heavy horse show, which features Belgian, Clydesdale, Percheron and Shire horses moving to music of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, will also have to move from the Saddledome into a large tent called The Big Top.   Grandstand shows include ballet performers from China, the Calgary Philharmonic, Aboriginal dancers and performers, and much more.

Other events including the main parade with astronaut Chris Hadfield as parade marshall, are also definitely on schedule. Then there are the various horse events, bull riding and racing, various western agricultural skills events and shows, all scheduled as usual, although the penning competition, which sees teams of riders separate three cattle from a herd, will be moved to the nearby community of Okotoks.

Stampede volunteer Jennifer Booth remarked  “It was very emotional to look at the Stampede park and to see the amount of water that was in there. I never thought that anything like this could ever happen … it was sombre,”

The Calgary Stampede began in 1912, although its roots go back to 1886 as the Calgary Agricultural Society.

It now offers the largest outdoor rodeo purse at  $2 million, while the purse for the chuckwagon races is over $1 million.

Vendors have also arrived and set up, food, souvenir, clothing, saddles, and and just about anything else a stampede crowd might want.

Last year a record crowd of over 1.4 million people visited the grounds during the ten day event.  This year the feeling is that although many Alberta residents will be unable to attend as they rebuild flood ravaged homes, many others elsewhere will make a special effort to come as a show that, come hell or high water, the event will happen, and be fantastic.