Thursday, 12 July 2007

Calgary Stampede!

This week, the City of Calgary went completely wacky. The world renowned Calgary Stampede has been on since last Thursday night (5th). Everyone in town & from out of town dons the cowboy get up including boots (see previous entry with Kerri's new boots), a cowboy hat, & denim jeans. The funny thing is that most of that gear, now self respecting man on the land would wear any of it. It's very much all for show, but it's quite effective when everyone does it, including the local ex-pats.</p> <p>All the bars in town gear up as country as possible & they are packed to the rafters for most of the week. The long daylight hours add to the mayhem as nobody realizes how late it is (even on a school night).


Thursday night we went to the Stampede grounds for a bit of a nosey & then to see the band Live, play live. For a $15 entry, it was a bargain for anyone who wanted to go see them. And it seemed like everyone in Calgary did!
I'm not a big fan of crowds & got a bit snakey when a group of guys started trying to bust through to the front. Eventually we found a spot a bit less congested & I quite enjoyed it after that. Kerri had a great time.
We also had a bit of a sticky beak at the Chuck Wagon races while we were there. More on that later.


Johnny Knoxville

Some of you may know this guy as Shane (amongst other things). He has recently adopted a new wardrobe style due to the Stampede fever that hit Calgary 2 weeks ago. He's unwittingly turned himself into a bit of a ringer for Johnny Knoxville of Jackass & Duke's of Hazard fame. I think he even likes the new tag.