Like “Saracens Girl”, my wife and I visited the Calgary Stampede in July this year. We went with our son, daughter -in-law and 7-year old grandson, for whom the huge funfair was the main attraction. You could spend a whole day (or more!) at the Stampede and not see the rodeo at all! We loved the smaller sideshows, the agricultural displays that showed the roots of this fair, the re-creation of a First Nations settlement and above all the range of food and drink on offer.
Use your imagination about which of these you might try (all available in the park on the day we were there): Mac and Cheese Stuffed Burger; Deep Fried Coffee; Hot Pink Candy Apples; Bacon and Sausage Scotch Eggs; Bacon Wrapped Pizza Dog; Golden Grasshopper Pie Pop; Saturday Morning Beaver Balls; Deep Fried Ice Cream; Fruit Infused Grilled Cheese; and the one I finally chose…a Porcupine Corn Dog! (see photo). All to be eaten in your hand or on a stick! I must also mention that my wife went for poutine – it’s a French-Canadian take on cheesy chips – chips, chunks of mozzarella, and gravy. It sounds disgusting but tasted delicious!
It’s a pity in a way that we didn’t have more time to explore the whole park, as we had tickets for the Rodeo Show in the afternoon. We booked them well in advance to ensure a good view, but in retrospect we would have chosen seats under cover, as rain clouds were threatening. The show was fabulous, however. The cowboy is alive and kicking – or at least the horses/broncs and bulls certainly were! Wonderful entertainment the likes of which you will never get in the UK! We’ll definitely go back again as we’ll be in Calgary visiting family as often as possible, but next time we’ll go to the evening event to see the chuck wagon racing. We only saw it on TV this time, but it looked great fun, especially in the wet weather which resulted in racing in a mud bath!
“Stampede website”:http://www.calgarystampede.com/stampede
