What is the Calgary Stampede?

The Calgary Stampede is an annual ten-day rodeo, exhibition, and cultural festival held each July in Calgary, Alberta since 1912. It is billed as 'The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth' and draws about 1.3 million visitors annually, making it the largest single tourism event in Canada. The 2012 centennial Stampede attracted 1.4 million visitors, the largest attendance in the event's history.

American cowboy and trick rider Guy Weadick founded the original 1912 Stampede as a one-time exhibition with $20,000 in prize money raised from four Calgary businessmen called the Big Four (Pat Burns, A.E. Cross, A.J. McLean, and George Lane). The event was revived as the Calgary Industrial Exhibition and Stampede in 1923 with chuckwagon racing added to the programme. The chuckwagon races, called the Rangeland Derby, remain the Stampede's signature evening event.

The Stampede includes professional rodeo events with bareback riding, saddle bronc, bull riding, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing, carrying the largest single-event purse in professional rodeo at over $2 million. The exhibition midway, agricultural shows, Indian Village (renamed Elbow River Camp in 2018 to reflect Treaty 7 First Nations partnership), the Stampede Parade through downtown, and the daily Grandstand Show round out the programme.

The Stampede represents a particular vision of Western Canadian identity: ranching, the cowboy aesthetic, the agricultural fair, and the celebration of Treaty 7 First Nations cultures of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut'ina, and the Stoney Nakoda. The event has faced criticism from animal welfare organisations regarding chuckwagon horse fatalities and calf-roping. Stampede Wednesday is an unofficial holiday in Calgary, and white cowboy hats given to visiting dignitaries by the Mayor of Calgary are called Calgary White Hats.