Stampede Friday 9th July 2010

We arrived back in Calgary to meet Bev and her 2 children on the corner of the block that her house was on. It was so amazing to be able to stay. Bev is a real star with a very big heart. Thank you Bev. Here she is posing when she came round later that day. What a gal.
The house is just round the corner from the tram and Safeways. Everything we need in a block! We did all our washing and prepared for the big day tomorrow. Bev had invited us to a club down town but we were too pooped by the time we had everything ready.

Day started with the parade. A 3 hour procession around the streets of Calgary. There were a lot of horses in the parade so the Local cleansing department joined in.



Not going to say much about the rodeo just click on the videos below to see what happens.

Calf Roping



Bucking Broncos



Steer Felling



Bronco Freestyle



Cowgirls Race



Bull Riding



Kids Wild Horse Riding (trying)



All the bucking animals have a strap around their backs that make them buck. The 2 No.8 cowboys that do the rounding up (Very skilled and a pleasure to watch) unclip the belt and the animal then becomes quite calm. Not too sure about the ethics of that practice.

While they were having a half time break there was the Indian hoop dance



The Rodeo ended at about 1600 and the evening entertainment wasn't starting until 1945 so we looked around and then came back to the house for some food before returning for the Chuck Wagon racing.



What then followed was a show of sensory overload. The stage, known as Queen Mary was towed in and set up. It was now getting dark so I haven't got any good pictures but there were dancers, singers, flying people, flying drummers, motorcycles zooming around inside a ball, motorcycles doing somersaults from ramp to ramp, girls bouncing off planks of wood, Michael Jackson tribute, smoke, volcanic fire bursts and, I almost forgot, fireworks!

We got back to the house at 0200 and fell into a fitful sleep afraid that the sky might fall on my head.