100 Years of Stampede: Calgary's Past as its Present
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| Official Logo of the Calgary Stampede |
This year the Calgary Stampede
celebrates it’s hundredth anniversary. For Canada, a country of only 145 years of
age, this is a significant milestone. This is especially true considering
Calgary was and for some still is the heart of Canada’s “Wild West”. Today
Calgary is no longer that wild western outpost rather it is perhaps Canada’s
richest city and the country’s 5th largest with a culturally and
ethnically diverse
well-educated population. However the legacy and history of the Stampede
and the culture and imagery that it carries from past, when Calgary was a
different place, continue to colour and mold the contemporary identity and
culture of Calgary. Calgary’s population, economy, and urban environment are no
longer representative of it’s past. Yet that past culture is carried in part by
the Stampede and continues to characterise the present. Let me tell you about
my visit and impressions of the Stampede. Yee haw!
History
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| Calgary Stampede from CNN |
The Stampede was founded in
1912, modelled after other great fairs and rodeos taking place throughout
the American West like “Frontier Days” at Cheyenne, Wyoming, the “Roping at El
Paso” in New Mexico and “The Rodeo” at Los Angeles among others. When the
Stampede began Calgary was a characteristic western
boom town with the population growing from just over 6000 in 1902 to over
60,000 just 10 years later in 1912. The city was originally incorporated in
1884 the year after the important Canadian Pacific Railroad passed through
Alberta on its mission to unify Canada coast to coast. Before the Turner Valley
Oil Boom in 1914 the greater
Calgary region’s economy was focused on grazing, agriculture, large ranching
operations, cattle marketing and meatpacking industries and transportation and
distribution as the railroad made it a regional hub. These economic activities,
the coming of settlers, cowboys, the local Aboriginals and interactions between
all these elements shaped and coloured local culture which is presented in the
Stampede today. So in 1912 when Guy Weadick and H.C. McMullen established the
Stampede it was
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| Stampede thoroughfare: Personal Collection |
largely representative of the local population, economy and
culture at that time. The Stampede consisted of activities
and events concentrating on steer roping, bucking horse riding/bronco
riding, fancy and trick horse riding, stagecoach racing, and Cowgirl, “Indian”,
and wild horse relay races and the World’s Champion Ropers. Each day began with
a parade of the participants, important figures and honoured guest throughout
the city to the Stampede grounds. The Stampede also included exhibitions and
information letting about Ranchers, Aboriginals, and The Royal Canadian
Mountain Police, the Railroad and Cowboy culture. Examples of this are the “old
time camp and trail tunes”, information about Aboriginal rituals and folk-art,
cowboy vocabulary, biography’s of locally important figures like Father Lacombe
who built the local Catholic Mission, and information about the “Pioneer
Railroad” (Canadian Pacific Railroad). Over time the Stampede expanded to
include a fairway packed with games, concessions, fare rides, concerts, acts,
dances, ranching and agricultural exhibitions, raffles and rich purses for the rodeo competitions, taking on the character we see today.
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| Aboriginal Campsite: Personal Collection |
What Does Stampede Mean?
The growing scope of the Stampede
served to attract more competitors and rodeo spectators, but also widened the
range of interest attracting observers beyond the scope of those innately
interested or connected to the rodeo and ranching culture. By the 1960’s it was
customary for the more that 500,000
annual Stampede goers regardless of their affiliation, or lack there of to dress in
cowboy hats and boots. Fred
Kennedy explains that the Stampede became a place where, “Bankers and
Lawyers, Businessmen and Clerics, Cowboys and Cowgirls, Farmers and School
Teachers, and Ranchers and visitors from every land join hands and dance (the
Square Dance) in the true spirit of the last old great west.” My impression from
the Stampede is that it is a place and time, once a year, where everyone in
Calgary regardless of their roots, origins, and culture, could dress up and
pretend to be a Cowboy or an “Indian”, and maybe
rub shoulders with real Cowboys and (Aboriginals) Indians. At the same time
it allows the attendees to participate in and observe the romanticised notions
of the Wild West and all the characters that come with it. It does not mater that
these “Cowboys for-a-day” drive to the Stampede in their Sports Cars, SUV or
take the C-train, or that they work in shinny office towers, live in neat
suburban subdivisions, or recently emigrated from Ontario, Chicago, Hong Kong,
Great Britain, Germany, Mexico or Pakistan. For the duration of the Stampede
they can partake in the Calgary of old and share in the same displays of
culture that characterise Calgary’s past and the dwindling number of local to
which the Stampede actually is reflective of.
At first this impression, which I
concluded via attending the Stampede and reading about it, sounded comforting,
inclusive and “Canadian”, but is it? In the rodeo of historical memory and
story with respect to the Stampede one wonders if the song lyric “This
town ain’t big enough for the both of us” applies when considering the
contributions of other groups to the popularised narrative of Calgary and the
Wild West.
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| A view of the Saddledome: Google Image search |
The memory of this old Calgary,
partially carried through by yearly commemoration in the Stampede, is rife with
representation throughout the city today, all year, not just during Stampede
season. The depictions of the Cowboy and Indian theme have always stood out to
me when I was/ am in Calgary. From the Saddle
Dome Stadium, to the Roundup
Convention Centre, and in the countless “Trails”(highways) named after First
Nations Tribes like Crowchild Trail, Deerfoot Trail, and Blackfoot Trail. Even neighbourhoods are named in this tradition; The Mission located south of downtown is named after the
Catholic mission that was founded in the 1870’s, and buttressed by Father Lacombe to
guarantee a strong Catholic-French community and convert Aboriginals; Shaganappi, west of downtown, is named after the Cree word for rawhide lacing; or simply neighbourhoods
like Silverado, and Saddle Ridge among others. Meanwhile
the city is sprinkled with statues and commemorations that are congruent to
this theme and then there is the famous airport greeters decked out in cow gear
during the summer months.
A Changing Calgary?
Despite this memory, popularised
throughout the city, Calgary as a population is becoming less characteristic of
it’s past, even though the whole city goes crazy for Stampede. The below chart
shows that just half of the city is 3rd
generation (10 points lower than the Alberta average) and no doubt far
fewer are 4th and 5th generation. The number of new
comers as a portion of the city’s population (and diversity) has probably
increased further since 2006 when this statistic was processed as Alberta has
experienced strong immigrant fuelled population growth in recent years. This
attests that the collective memory is not simply a function of
inter-generational transmission. However, that it is also carried by the
popularised imagery and culture so characteristic of the mayhem that engulfs
the city during Stampede, which is also sprinkled throughout the city’s
infrastructure, facilities, and neighbourhoods, permanently.
Despite the 2006 statistics that
23.6% of Calgarians were born outside of Canada, and that about 12,000
new immigrants arrive in Calgary per year, and that 18%
of the cities population speaks neither English nor French as their first
language, the Wild West, Cowboy vs. Indian traditional Stampede narrative
continues to dominate the historical memory of not just the Stampede but also Calgary.
Is this because the power of the Cowboy vs. Indian theme to cross cultural
differences? I think probably not!
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| John Ware and his Family: Glenbow Archives |
What I can discern from visiting
the Stampede and once living in Calgary is that the representation of the
Stampede has not grown to be inclusive of the other cultures that also exist in
Calgary. It is commonplace for a fifth or for that matter first generation
Chinese-Canadian to dress up and wear a cowboy hat and boots and go to the
Stampede. However, the Calgary
Stampede does not recognise nor popularise the role that Chinese immigrants had
in building the west, whether that be as a railway worker, a laundrymen, a
cook, a small businessman or in another capacities. While it was not until the
1970’s that wide interest in rancher John
Ware, Alberta’s first black person and rodeo participant, was shown and not
until 2012, 100 years after the Calgary Stampede was established, that his
story and contribution to ranching in southern Alberta was popularised and
honoured in a play.
Furthermore the role of Aboriginals is presented in tired clichés with teepees,
Bannock and dancing.
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| Aboriginal Campsite: Personal Collection |
The Stampede has primarily evolved
to showcase only one narrative of Calgary’s history, but in Canada we know
others do exist. While not attempting to dive into the hopeless Edmonton vs.
Calgary debate, when Edmonton city officials no longer felt that Klondike Days
represented the city and the image officials wanted to present they changed the
name to the Capital Ex. While this name, Capital
Ex, lacks romanticised imagery, it is certainly more accurate and inclusive
of Edmonton and its contemporary make up than Klondike Days. This is a defacto
recognition that the identities, the history and thus in some way the make up
of a specific place changes, and that identity can be flexible and molded to
the new reality. Klondike Days became the Capital Ex and the personification of
Klondike Days, Klondike
Kate was retired in 2006. A similar shift has not occurred with the Calgary
Stampede, or arguably even in it’s content.
What is the Stampede today?
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| Budweiser: The Wild West is Waiting... At the Stampede, Don't Forget your Cowboy Hat!: Personal Collection |
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| "The Best City in the Best Country": Calgary Herald |
Last year CNN named the Calgary
Stampede the fifth best place in the world to “Party
like a rock star”. When I visited Calgary during Stampede I was told all of
the city’s quarters were empty, as the locals had descended upon the Stampede
grounds to participate in the events. In the evening beer and moonshine flowed
at Stampede themed concerts and events at local bars, restaurants and
nightclubs, where everyone was clad in Cowboy hats, boots or some other Cowboy
regalia. The women of Calgary dress up in outfits evoking the film Coyote Ugly, with cowboy
hats, short shorts, and plenty of cleavage (I am not complaining), while the
men were clad in plaid shirts, jeans and cowboy boots. Many local companies
also partake by throwing Stampede themed barbecues and parties for there
employees. As these are events often provide the chance for networking business
socialising and flattering bosses and other employees it is important to
participate with high spirits.
I enjoyed attending the Stampede
but by dinnertime I had almost overdosed on Cowboys and Indians. Put simply the
Stampede and the cultural experience that it invokes, which overwhelms Calgary,
is an excuse to consume large amounts of alcohol, dress up as a cowboy or cowgirl,
get off work early, attend parties on a Wednesday night, try to act rich,
entitled
and loud. I can only imagine how not sharing in this identity and not partaking
in displays of Stampede regalia might cause a local to stand out among friends
or work in Calgary’s “Group Think”. Everyone had a cowboy hat or some cowboy/
rancher gear even in areas far from the Stampede. On an interesting note I did
not see any grown adults dressed up as Aboriginals, besides Aboriginals
themselves.
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| Calgary Dream= New American Dream?:Pizam.com |
The memory of history and culture
exhibited by the Stampede creates rules for interaction, acceptance and
“normalcy” for the citizens of Calgary in which they must conduct themselves in
order to be part of the “Calgary Dream”. This history of the past and its
representation do not correspond to the demographic and modern cultural make up
of the city, but the narrative creates the medium in which the citizens must
speak, understand and conform to so they can participate in “Calgary”. As all
or most in the city must learn this narrative and conform to it, it drowns
other narratives that contributed to the history of Calgary and it’s growth to
the city’s present form. Indeed “this town (Calgary) is not big enough for
another narrative….”
Who Cares?
Is this perhaps a sign of a shift towards a philosophy of assimilation over the cultural mosaic? If Canada prescribes to total identities and single dimensional memories like the Stampede it risks alienating large segments of the population who do not share this memory or truly care to partake in it. Propagating a memory like this may be easy in a place like Calgary, where there is more work that workers and money to be made so that outsiders have an incentive to comply with this memory. However, when work runs out, youth unemployment spikes, and when immigrants can’t find jobs how will the marginalised elements of Canada’s society who do not reflect nor share total narratives like this react to such “memories” of Canada? I am not suggesting that the Stampede marginalises people, but all encompassing cultural representations or manifestations can sometimes act as the proverbial fault line.
Update August 1st, 2012
Considering this perspective on the
Stampede, what is your feedback regarding the recent contest for the renaming
of the Capital Ex to the winning bid K-Days?
Resources:
Calgary Health Authority:
http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/programs/diversity/demographics/demographics_of_div_pop.pdf
Canadian Geographic:
CNN
http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/play/worlds-best-party-spots-503515
Live in Calgary:
Our Future Our Past: The Alberta
Heritage Digitalization Project, The Calgary Stampede Archives at the
University of Calgary:
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea that thematic events can and should change with the times, though I doubt something as iconic as the Stampede ever will. I think people like to hold on to romanicized notions of the past, perhaps as a way of clinging to what they may think were "simpler" times or maybe because things like the Stampede have always just "been." I also like your observation that few adults want to dress as "Indians." Times do change, but I doubt something like the Stampede, steeped in the kind of tradition that it is, ever will. Society sees things like animal rights differntly, but the goals of these people will likely never be realized given the huge money-making machine that is the Stampede.
ReplyDelete(P.S. I think the Klondike has a looser connection to Edmonton's history than the Stampede does to Calgary. Seems like it was chosen as a theme for lack of anything better, but perhaps I'm just being cynical)
I would have to agree with you about something that is as iconic and a marketing/ moneymaking machine as the Stampede not changing. The revenue and publicity that it raises combined, combined with the notion of something “constant” in a place like Calgary which is still a rapidly changing city is probably very attractive. It’s just too bad that in some respects it uses tired clichés, however, as the Stampede has been staged for 100 years to ever-increasing crowds I doubt this will change.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty I feel Canada’s young age and nature of immigration make it difficult for society to blindly recognize Canada as a monolith due to the changing demographic realities. I am sure with time this will change however.
From my experience with the Stampede and as you noted it does seem to reinforce some stereotypes about first nations people but not in any sort of malicious way and does offer a opportunity to expose people to the culture. Do you think that this is something that should be addresses?
ReplyDelete