Calgary, Alberta's largest city, with its international airport is the first port of call for visitors to the Canadian Rockies. The famous Calgary Stampede - a huge rodeo event with a powwow - takes place here and the Heritage Park also takes you back to the Wild West. Is it worth a visit?
You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them
Welcome to Cowtown
A cosmopolitan city in western Canada with numerous skyscrapers, Calgary owes its rapid growth to the oil industry. Calgary is still steeped in western culture, which has earned the city the nickname "Cowtown." This is evident at the Calgary Stampede, Canada's largest rodeo festival in July, which grew out of the former agricultural shows.
This year the Calgary Stampede will take place in Canada from July 5 to 14, 2024.
For the ten-day Calgary Stampede, Alberta saddles up the horses and puts on cowboy hats to welcome visitors from all over the world. The only people who stand out here are those who aren't wearing a cowboy hat. During the event, over 100 athletes compete against each other in various competitions, including bareback riding, steer wrestling, chuckwagon racing and bull riding. With prize money of $2 million for the winner, it's like a giant game show. The Calgary Stampede claims to be the largest outdoor show in the world!
Rodeo, chuckwagon races, a huge amusement park, music festival, cowboy get-together and 1st Nations Powwow.
Bombastic and entertaining, but animal rights activists are up in arms: is the 125-year-old and historic event still relevant?
Insight into Indigenous traditions at a Powwow at the Calgary Stampede
Things are a little quieter at the Elbow River Camp. Since 1886, the indigenous people of the five nations - Tsuu T'ina, Piikani, Stoney, Kainai and Siksika - have been building their tipis here, holding powwows, offering arts and crafts and letting visitors participate in their traditional culture. Even in times when the Department of Indian Affairs tried to prohibit the First Nations from their culture, this tradition was continued: every year an Indian princess from one of the five nations is chosen to represent them at the Stampede.
This year, Margaret Holloway of the Stoney Nakoda Nation was crowned Calgary Stampede First Nations Princess 2024.
Canada - as it was 100 years ago - in Calgary Heritage Park
If you want to see what Canada looked like 100 years ago (or more), Calgary Heritage Park is the place to be. The exhibits cover the history of Western Canada from the 1860s to the 1950s. Many of the buildings are historic and have been transported to the park to be displayed.
Click on the first picture to start the photo gallery
Some of them are furnished with original items. The staff also wear historical costumes and you can travel the parc by old cars, trains and horse-drawn carriages. Old houses, farms, trains, ships, tipis, etc. have been collected from all over the region and rebuilt here to form a huge open-air museum. Visitors can stroll through the streets, ride on a steam locomotive, visit old forts and watch craftsmen at work. There are events depending on the season - in autumn, for example, at Halloween and Christmas. Great fun for all ages and open all year round.
INFO
The programme for the Calgary Stampede
And for the Heritage Park
GETTING THERE
There are several scheduled flights from Germany to Vancouver or Calgary every day. An electronic travel document (eTa) is required to enter Canada.
The easiest way to continue your journey is by rental car, e.g. via www.billiger-mietwagen.de