The Quebec Stampede

The cold winter weather in Calgary has been getting me down lately. I decided I needed to be in a place where winter was celebrated, where being outside was encouraged. I needed a metropolis with a 17-day Festival celebrating snow sculptures, tobogganing, ice skating and general outdoor pursuits. Was there a city I could go where drinking outside was not only tolerated but in fact encouraged? Was there a place, pray tell, which had a jovial robust snowman as their mascot? Well it turns out that yes indeed, there was. Quebec City was calling my name.

I was ready to trade in my cowboy hat for a toque, my cowboy boots for Sorels and my Budweiser for some Caribou, a potently disgusting yet surprisingly addictive mixture of port and whisky. Well ok, I don’t own a pair of cowboy boots, but on Friday morning, I hopped on a plane to traverse the country. I was expecting an old-fashioned European experience: some warm butter croissants, red wine, maybe a beret or two. I was ready to experience a different culture: What I walked into was a pancake breakfast and 8 000 white cowboy hats. Had I gone to sleep in Quebec City and somehow been magically transported back to Calgary? Well, no. It turns out instead of coming to Carnaval, I had stumbled upon the Quebec Stampede.

Calgary and Quebec City are sister cities and the Stampede Board has sent a delegation of one hundred volunteers this year to celebrate Quebec’s 400th Anniversary. And nothing says ‘Congratulations’ better than a tin pan full of sausages. And as I’m finding out, Calgary’s motto is and perhaps always will be: “Go big or go home.” Any thoughts I had of a couple of guys in a booth handing out some pamphlets to promote Stampede were banished the minute we saw the two-hundred people standing in line waiting for their pancakes.

Did you know that there are actually people that have never even heard of Stampede? We have had several folks ask us “What is Stampede for, exactly?’ This is actually a really good question. Luckily my travelling companion was quick at the ready with an answer: “It’s a rodeo.” This is a good thing, because my answer would have been: “It’s for drinking.”

When asked what the advantages were for promoting Stampede in Quebec, Public Relations Manager Doug Fraser said, “We are not here to fill seats at Stampede; we are genuinely here to help Quebec celebrate their 400th Anniversary.” I may even have believed him if we hadn’t been standing directly in front of the Calgary Stampede 18-wheeler. No folks. No promotion going on here. Here’s your free cowboy hat.

So with country music blaring from the Hydro Quebec stage, I had my very first encounter with Stampede mascot Harry the Horse,


got my picture taken with the Stampede Queen and Princesses


and of course, I did what any self-respecting Calgarian would do when visiting Quebec City: I rode the mechanical bull.


So there I was, eight feet of snow, minus ten, with a cowboy hat and some snow pants, outside the walled gates of Vieux Quebec with a sea of white cowboy hats worn by people speaking French. The truth is, I have never felt like more of a Calgarian, nor have I ever been prouder to be one. It’s ironic that I had to come 4000 kilometres to Quebec City to appreciate Stampede.

Also available on the Calgary Herald Q