The Calgary Stampede 2018

By alantvuong on July 21, 2018

As I mentioned in last year’s post: The Calgary Stampede takes place every year in July in Calgary and is a rodeo, carnival and festival. I don’t even remember missing a year for this 10 day event. For the second year in a row since it’s been available, I bought the Stampede Super Pass. For about $40, this allows me to enter the Stampede grounds as many times as I want for the year. This also includes the sneak-a-peek Thursday where the park opens for a half day before the official first Friday. For the 11 days, I actually visited the Stampede 8 days. I won’t list my top reasons again for visiting the Stampede, but will list my top highlights from this year’s event:

The Kick-Off Stampede Parade

This family friendly fun event starts downtown at 9 AM and lasts for about 2 hours. Hundreds of Thousands of people line the streets early to get a great spot to see the hundreds of floats, horses, marching bands and dancers. For the last couple years the parade ends with free admission to the Stampede grounds until 1.30 PM. Otherwise admission is regularly $18 for adults.

watching the Stampede Parade

Meeting Up With Family and Friends

Again, since this annual carnival and rodeo offers so many things to do, it is a great place to spend time with friends and family. There is something for everyone from kids midway to beer gardens to shopping and food to music and games. Many hours of fun and entertainment could be shared with the ones you bring along with.

family….

Running Into People You Haven’t Seen In A While

Yes, the Stampede is very crowded with over 100,000 people visiting each day; but it seems like I always run into someone I know that I haven’t seen in a while. From childhood friends, classmates or past caregivers, I like catching up with people to see what they are up to.

been how many years?

Crazy Carnival Food

Every year, the Stampede releases a list of brand new crazy food items to try. This gets everyone talking and gets them excited to eat all the food. This year includes Cricket Grilled Cheese, Prairie Oyster Balls, Smoking Charcoal Ice Cream, Kit Kat Fries, Kangaroo Stuffed Burgers and many more unique items. Doesn’t this make you want to visit the Stampede?

kangaroo meat sausage pizza

Free Entertainment

They had the free motorbike and dog show again this year. Their locations within the Stampede grounds may have changed slightly but it’s always a similar show every year. Still very fun to see every year. There are also free sheep shearing, blacksmith, horse handling and many more free events. Just check out the link here.

watching the dog show with my brother

Free Concerts at The Coke Stage

I enjoy checking out the free concerts at The Coke Stage because they do bring out some big names for us to attend. I like hanging out at the wheelchair accessible area because it is literally one of the best views on the stage. The raised platform is perfect to see over the crowd and right into the stage. This year’s artists I went to see were: Alexisonfire, Elle King, Our Lady Peace, Lights and The Funk Hunters. The rest of this year’s artists can be found here.

view from the raised platform

Related Parties With Big Name Artists

I also really enjoy visiting the Cowboys Tent to watch other big name artists perform. Tickets to this party can be quite expensive depending who is playing that night. Lucky there are ways to win and get free tickets if you follow Cowboys Music Festival social media. This year the only artists that I wanted to see were Kygo, G Eazy and Marshmello. The only one I actually saw this year was Marshmello because the other 2 were either cancelled or sold out. The Cowboys tent is very busy but very fun and I go here every year too.

checking out Marshmello with a few friends

The Calgary Stampede is always a great time to be had and you can see why I visit it every year multiple times. Can’t wait until next year to do it all over again.