The Calgary Stampede - Part 2

On the way to see the horse pull competition, the girls had a chance to see inside a military vehicle, the Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) 6.0. It was cool. I don’t know if I could deal with the tight spaces. The horse pulls were interesting with competitors pulling over 10,000 lbs. 

We left the competition and went to the vendors building to look around. We grabbed a coffee and ended up listening to live music near a display of art exhibits. John fell asleep and I carried him around while looking at the art. 

We made a mistake and missed the Super Dogs show but decided to go see about tickets to the Chuckwagon races. We saw a sign that said, “Rodeo tickets cheapest seats $49”. We were not going to pay that much. Later we learned that there is a discounted rate for standing room and then you can just take any free seats. We did that. We settled in for the Chuckwagon races and the First Nations relay race. The First Nations relay race involves the rider jumping off the horse at the end of a lap and jumping on a new horse for the next lap. They must do three laps while riding bareback. One horse did not want to cooperate, the rider fell off twice while trying to get on their horse. 

Once the evening show ended, the Grandstand show was set-up. A tractor pulls a stage into the stadium where the races take place. The show started with Canadian country star Dean Brody doing a set before the Young Canadians performed an hour long show of singing and dancing. The show was very impressive with dozens of dancers, singers, a trick roper named Loop Rawlins, drones, and fireworks. The drones were incredibly impressive, drawing hearts and stars in the sky before forming the Calgary Stampede C-S logo spinning slowly in the sky. Once the drones were done, a massive number of fireworks started coinciding with the closing of the show. 

With the show done, we walked past the rides and food stands and debated getting some ride tickets. Just then, a woman came by offering us her extra tickets. Gen took the kids to go on a ride while Jo-Ce and I picked up some food at the food trucks. Finally, with everyone exhausted, having been at the Stampede from 9:30am to midnight, we walked back to the car and back to Don’s house.