The Calgary Stampede: The World’s Wildest Rodeo

Every July in western Canada a grand spectacle happens known as the greatest outdoor show on earth: The Calgary Stampede, The World’s Wildest Rodeo.

Prince William and Kate showed up and got a standing ovation, this year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau turned up and got booed – you never know what will happen at the Calgary Stampede, the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.

For ten days every July, the parking lots and parks between the Saddledome and Stampede Arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, turn into the grounds for the Calgary Stampede – the All-Star of rodeos, where the top twenty internationally ranked contestants in cattle roping, bronco riding (bareback and saddle), barrel racing, steer wrestling and bull riding are invited to compete against one another for a whopping $2 million purse of prizes.

Bucked off at calgary stampede
That’s gotta hurt.
Jim Dunn, a rodeo judge and three time Stampede champion in bareback riding said, “The guys here are the best in the world and they’re tough as nails. It’s the hardest sport in the world to learn because you have to learn by doing and one mistake on any of these animals, which are basically feral – well, that could be it. You’re done.”

Founded by an American, Guy Weadick in 1912, the Stampede is not just a rodeo – it’s like a State Fair on crack, encompassing an agricultural exhibition where cattle are showcased and auctioned, and a pop up Six flags-esque amusement park, complete with loop de loop rollercoasters, haunted houses, something called a Boomerang (which launches a small pod of people into the air), a gravity drop and hundreds of other rides.

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There is also an Indian Village, comprised of actual tepees, pow wows, drum ceremonies and cultural exhibits, a kiddie carnival and several lotteries – one for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom dream house, several for trucks and one for $75,000 cash. At the same time, it’s also a music festival – with the Zach Brown Band, Lady Antebellum, Kiss and the Kentucky Headhunters playing on or around the grounds.

Muddy Calgary Stampede
It got muddy out there.

This year, for the first time decades, it was a soggy Stampede as rain poured down all ten days of the event and temperatures veered widly from the 70s into the forties and fifties within a twenty minute span.

But the weather didn’t dampen the crowds – which swelled to over 1.2 million with tourists coming in from as far as Korea, India and China, doubling the city’s size over the ten day celebration.

Outside of the Stampede grounds things are just as wild – in a not so family friendly way.

Last year, 20 year old Alexis Frulling gained instant fame after a video was posted on Reddit of her having a late night, naked threeway with two men in a parking lot after the stampede.

But Frulling isn’t the only one who went a little crazy – she just happened to be caught on camera doing it (she used the international publicity to launch a career as a stripper). The atmosphere during Stampede is reminiscent of Mardi Gras mixed with the infield of the Kentucky Derby, topped with cowboy hats and micro jean shorts.

When the drinks start flowing at 8 a.m. and bars don’t close till 2 a.m., things get interesting.

 

Geoff Allan, 31, is the general manager of Bottlescrew Bill’s Pub, a bar just a few minutes from Stampede Park and notorious for selling prairie oysters (bull testes) and an “Around the world in 80 Beers Passport.”

“I had to remove a lady from the bar – she was like 55 and loser pissed at 12:30 in the afternoon on a Monday,” Allan said. “I tossed her out and the second I get her outside the bar, she flashed me. I didn’t need to see that.”

While there are entertainment tents inside Stampede grounds, including one called Nashville North – which is dedicated to showcasing country music – and the Triple B Tent, which stands for BBQ, Beer and (electronic) Bull rides, the wildest antics occur in the offsite tents, especially inside the tent run by Cowboys Casino (motto: “The most fun you can have with your boots on”).

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Bartenders and the women who sell beer out of huge barrels have been rumored to make up to $10,000 during the Stampede at Cowboys. The line to get in winds through nine gate turns and the entrance fee – if no band is showcased – is $35. On other nights, when acts like Florida and Q Tip play, entry is $100. Inside, it resembles the old Hogs and Heifers, with wooden bars, dance stages and corralls – if there was a reachable roof, bras would have been hung from it.

Johnny Cash Calgary Stampede

“Through these doors walk the most beautiful women in Alberta,” read huge signs plastered all over the tent and Paul Vickers, the owner of Cowboys, boasted to the Globe and Mail last year: “There’s a sex element (inside). We’re not running a church.”

Cowboys also has alleged two-year contracts with its pneumatic bottled blonde female employees, whereby, if they work fulltime for two years, they receive an added bonus: free breast implants. And the stacked staff don’t disappoint. On Thursday evening one of the buxom blonde babes shilling beers showed off her new breasts on demand, pulling down her low tight shirt to reveal her recently inflated “girls” for cash.

“This is a target rich environment,” one patron in a snapfront plaid shirt and cowboy hat said just before two women in micro jean shorts and midriff tops sandwiched him on the dance floor.

“I’m horny as fuck!” one brunette in a strapless minidress and cowboy boots screamed to her friends before taking off for a dance stage.

But on Stampede grounds things are slightly tamer. Families mill around, and the screams come from the rides or over sugar saturated children. But it is still unlike any rodeo you’ll see in America. Women in hijabs topped with cowboy hats chat to friends who are dressed head to toe in denim, and due to Canada’s robust immigration policies, conversations are held in Arabic, Dinka, Chinese and French as well as English.

But despite the event being held in Canada, this year, the Americans dominated the Stampede.

The 67 year-old grandma who won the Calgary Stampede in barrel racing.
The 67 year-old grandma who won the Calgary Stampede in barrel racing.

On Sunday, during the final round of rodeo, as rain poured down, thunder boomed and lightning flashed, Mary Burger, a 67-year- old grandma from Pauls Valley, Oklahoma and Cody Teel, a 24-year- old bull rider from Kountze, Texas, won the Stampede finals, beating out contestants from Canada, Brazil, Australia and even France.

“I’ve had so many women come up to me and say you are an inspiration to me – and I just say ‘Thank you’,” Burger said, after beating contestants over 40 years younger than her. As the crowd gave her a standing ovation, Burger added, “But (rodeo) is just something I’ve got to do. I’ll be here again next year with bells on!”

Cody Teel, Calgary Stampede riding champion.
Cody Teel, Calgary Stampede riding champion.

Teel, who was bucked off a bull on his first night, and scored low on his second, was the Cinderella of the event. The young, unassuming Texan got into the finals by unexpectedly coming in first on a wild card round and staying on his bull while it flailed around in six inch deep mud.

“I didn’t think I’d come this far,” Teel said afterwards in the dressing room, still stunned. “It’s just amazing. I mean – I won the Calgary Stampede!”

Marie Erwert, a 24-year- old hairdresser from Sisters, Oregon, sat in the locker room nearby patiently waiting for her boyfriend, fellow Oregonian Steven Peebles, who won the Bareback Bronco riding.

“Hey Cody!” someone yelled. “Let’s get to the Keg! You’re buying.”

“All the guys who are in the Stampede go to (the local steakhouse) the Keg after finals every year – and the winner buys for their group. So I guess that’s where Steven’s prize money is going,” she joked.

As for Cody and his $100,000 haul? “I’m going to invest it and buy more land and cattle,” he said. “That’s my bank.”

This article also appeared in the New York Post.