Calgary Stampede

Needed to go via train to the stampede today, so a bunch of went at 10:30 to arrive around 11am

when most of the festivities begin. First thing was finding a bar to watch the World Cup final between Netherlands and Spain. This turned out to be allot harder than expected, we left the grounds and found a place not to far from the main entrance.

It turns out we got our timings wrong, the game starts at 12:30pm instead of 11:30am, means we can only watch half of the game but can still drink the same amount of beer. The game was frustrating, 6 yellow cards in the first half and no scoring. Spain seemed to be dominating so we left thinking they would win and the game wasn't much special to watch.

1:30pm the Rodeo began, we purchased tickets through contiki for this and the evening show. Bull Riding was the highlight, there was also events with people riding bucking horses, racing horse around cones showing control on tight angles, lassoing a small calf off a horse and wrestling a calf to the ground. Contestants took it serious as they win prize money for the day and helps decide if they make to the finals later in the week. The last event was a bit of fun, 3 small children trying to jump onto small horses that are running away from them.

From the Rodeo, Luke and I went onto this skyride that overlooks the whole park it was massive, it seemed like a huge version of the Melbourne Show, rides, games, markets, displays and most importantly stages for performances.

The Bell circus had 3 performances that repeated all day. Diving, Freestyle Motor Cross and Acro Slam. I got to see the end of the Diving, a dude finished off with a dive about 30 metres high with numerous spins into a pool below, the guy must have balls of steel. The Freestyle Motor Cross was awesome, superman's, back flips, the place was packed for this show. The final show was the spamming dunking, 5 guys putting on heaps of different moves, ally oops, flips and was pretty entertaining. They got the crowd involved, volunteers to offer passes up, a bit of dancing and joke telling.

At 7:30pm, back into the big stadium again. It started raining not long before which left everyone wondering, thankfully it stopped and didn't reappear. The first event was the Chuckracing, 9 races, 4 teams, each team having a wagon and 3 out riding horses. The race was won by the wagon, penalties could change the result if the outriders weren't within a certain distance of the wagon.

The night show was amazing, 2 lead singers, one does Lion King on Broadway, the other won a major talent competition on TV. The highlight was 4 motor bike riders in sphere, going at full pace while other riders were doing jumps and cool tricks over the top of them. It was a full on musical performance with singers and dancers taking over the stage, a couple of songs were dedicated to Michael Jackson. A small break in the middle had a comedian come out, very funny man.

We finished off the night at Nashville North, huge tent in the complex in the Stampede, it was huge and full. The band was playing modern country and in between sets, a DJ controlled the dance floor. A couple of beers before the place closed at 1am, time to catch a taxi and back to bed.