Now given that title one must read on to avoid puzzlement.
I know you hear it often but that 5.30am alarm rules the day's activities here in Calgary.So it was behind the drivers seat and off along Deerfoot then Memorial and into downtown Calgary despite past plea's "no one drives into the city centre on parade day,only people of unsound mind would tackle Deerfoot Trail in peak hour"use public transport we had been told for day's prior on 105.1FM Country 105. So heading no of that advice i headed off and a very short time later y host answered the phone. "Hi it's Christopher here, ( I could almost hear the response has he had an accident,is he lost,has the car being towed etc!) instead I replied "found my usual park 30m from the parade route!"Guess some people are lucky or too many people listen to the advice offered on the radio.
With over 1.5hrs to wait it was time to claim space (set up the chairs,water,program etc) then go to check out the lay of the land to establish those important features such as the closest clean toilets,coffee vendors,free giveaways and watch the prelude entertainment such as Indian hoop dances.
However one has far more important things to do and socialisation is of the highest order.Say that looks like a nice family standing up the back while most others are already in family circles wonder if i should say Good Day Mate and that usually breaks the ice, well wasn't necessary as the father approached me for information. Luckily not only do I past visitation experience but had bought the Stampede parade guide from the Calgary Sun.(www.calgarysun.com) plus i had acquired the Street Marshall's official guide sheet.The new people turned out to be first time visitors from Danmark. Their eldest son is gaining work experience on a farm North of Calgary and a visit to the Calgary Stampede Parade was a well chosen option for the morning.infact they became our ádopted family"for the parade and later over coffee. So we have solved the first part of this blog's title. Vejen garden is a visiting Danish Marching Band at the Stampede this year.
The parade is approx 4.8kms long and takes around 2 hours to pass any one point thus one could be forced to take around 6300 steps.For those familiar with the Calgary Tower as shown in one of my photo's in this blog can perhaps visualise 25 towers end to end and that's the length of the parade route.
For those that have problems with the 6300 steps then it's no bull that the amount of horse manure expected to be deposited on city streets is over 2000kgs from over 700 horses. This mess is cleared by The Calgary City street sweepers incidentally called Chestnut the Horse, Barlow the Buffalo,The Bull, Daisy the Cow and the human army called "Men in Kilts"and yes they were (see photo).
Who goes in the parade? Those participating are invited and as happened this year with the Salvation Army Band just because you have done it sine 1914 they were not invited in 2016. They will be back later as this opens up the tight field for new entrants. the parade can not exist without a committee of 140. Boy they must be fun meetings sure hope they decide by secret ballot.Just found out these meetings consumed a,most 19000 hours including parade day. You do the maths then decide if a vacancy occurs can you devote 139/19000 hours? Some of the volunteers and yes we had one in our sector today (go John see him in the vest in some photo's) have done it for 40+years, far longer then their working career and they got paid for that.
One group that is a regular part of the parade is the political arm of Calgary & Alberta. However they are far in front of Obama as this year as The Hon MLA Katyleen Ganley sat nose in the air and occasionally even curled up next to her mistresses on he back seat of the car. The crowd went wild calling out "go puppy""dog's rule"but then we had the sad awaking Katyleen had bought her dog along for the ride. Sure would cut down on pensions when pollies retire if it was correct.Still given there is over 4000 people in the parade one can put up with the pollies. The 15 different bands are well spaced out to break up the parade floats.
With such numbers and prestige who would lead the Parade, Rachael Notley The Premier No but she was in the parade on her horse,the firefighters from Fort McMurray No but they were honoured with a front position and received a great round of applause. (Fort McMurray was devastated by wildfires last month). Well it joinly went to two Calgary musicians Paul Brandt who incidentally was a contestant in the Calgary Stampede Talent Quest and then in 2012 I had the pleasure of attending the talent Quest final where Paul made a special surprise (well to the audience not me) appearance. He commented on the honour of being the Parade Ambassador when he said "I'm very proud of the legacy that the Stampede was built on,and being able to be representative of those values- it's an important thing for me and a huge honour" Paul incidentally was a nurse,like his mother, at the Calgary Children's Hospital before his career took him into international stardom.His music reflects on these experiences and his childhood in Alberta. (try a goggle search Paul Brandt and buy some of his music on Amazon it's a lot cheaper then Park Beach music in Coffs Harbour).This year he was joined by Jann Arden also a Calgary music star. Paul's parting words were "I'm so excited that this year I will be the one looking at people in the crowd and waving to them just as when I was a child in Calgary watching the parade and was so thrilled when one of the parade people looked directly at me and and returned my wave" So the circle will be unbroken.
The parade also contains floats of Western Heritage,commercial importance and community organisations along with Government floats.the participants ages ranged from young children to those well past 90 years of age, native,ethnic and Canadian well and the Australian Rodeo Queen rode proudly holding the Australian Flag and decked out in a flag themed riding jeans.
The enthusiasm of the estimated 100000 locals and international people watching never wained with continual Stampede calls of Yah Hoo & Yee Ha and clapping either in time with the marching bands lead by the Calgary Stampede Marching band or clapping to show their support of those in the parade.Not every float fits these categories as this year a special feature was a 32 member team of Percheron's pulling 6 wagons to emulate the record hauling team back in 1920 and yes it was a site seen by very few ever and quite likely may never be repeated again. The Stampede traditions continue.....
There was one of those moments that linger occasionally in my memory from events around the world that I have shared with many of you in my past travel tails- the 2016 Stampede Parade had one such moment,expectantly as it caught me unready to comprehend at first the swell of clapping increased dramatically in volume and length and gathering my visual thoughts there in front of us marching ever so proudly were the Canadian Armed Forces members, perhaps in this troubled world people realise that most of the Western cultures are indeed again at war with those who try to kill and Mame our troops in the Middle East and our citizens in cities and towns with out warning while politician's would rather discuss "political correctness.


The house is quiet now as everyone has gone to bed why well in Calgary The Road to Rio rolls on tomorrow at Spruce Meadows, their International equestrian grounds as Olympic trials take place and of course before then that alarm will be ringing at 5.30am as it is the Chinook Shopping Centre Stampede breakfast first.