Cowboys and ... well, more cowboys

One of the things that we wanted to do when we headed down to Calgary the other week was attend the Calgary Stampede.

We were driving down and making arrangements with our generous Calgary hosts, the McColl’s when they let us know that they were going to be at the Stampede that day. A plan quickly formed and soon Caroline had us heading off to ‘The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth’ the first instant that we could upon our arrival in town. We dropped the car off, jumped on a shuttle bus and made our way to the Stampede.

It’s a big event. And like the Royal Adelaide Show, it brings the rural to the city but in a way like I would never have imagined. Now given that we’d driven 700+ kilometers to get there in the previous two days I can’t exactly say that I was approaching this with the best frame of mind. And what I saw when we arrived, quite frankly filled me with dread.

Everywhere you looked there were cowboy hats and cowboy boots. Sure at the Royal Show there’s always some dodgy trend going around, but its typically restricted to that youthful group of people with spare cash and little sense.

At the stampede, there is no such restriction. Age, race, weight, no matter how you cut it, someone was there in their cowboy boots and hat. Now don’t get me wrong, there were some people there that looked hot in their boots and hat, but let’s face it, those were the people that would probably look good in a hessian sack. And I must thank those people (especially the girls) for their attachment to their tiny daisy duke denim shorts and bared midriffs.

Unfortunately fashion sense, apparently like intelligence, is not something that is handed out to all comers. And its particularly sad when the people that have missed out on both of those things decide to cowboy it up. If your belly is two feet past your breasts and your four foot tall, a cowboy hat, boots matched up with a frock really isn’t a good idea. But I didn’t have the heart to tell her.

I can’t say that I really did the Stampede justice as I only managed to spend the one afternoon there and all I saw was the chuck wagon races (great fun for the first three or four, but not something I’d want to spend 2 hours watching again) and the Grand Show.

My first impressions (that those dancing cowboys might be more inclined to participate in a bit of brokeback mountain action rather than any rodeo) of the grand show, weren’t so grand, but it did warm up as things went along. It was possibly detracted from a little by the fact that we all had to stand up and the damn thing went for so long, but by the end of it, I was glad that I’d seen it.

Of course, having said all that, I missed the rodeo and from all reports, it sounds like I missed the best bit. Only Caroline (with due support from Klemens) was brave enough to take the kids a second time! At least everyone had another great day and Mum will be loved for that.