Pancakes, rodeo, music and western charm: Stampede set to deliver major boost to Calgary economy

The Calgary Stampede grounds have fully opened for sneak-a-peek night, ahead of the major festivities starting Friday morning with the parade.

The Calgary Stampede is back in full swing, with visitors to Stampede Park getting early access to Thursday’s Sneak-A-Peek.

Last year, nearly 1.5 million people visited the grounds, with more than 201,000 in one day.

Organizers are expecting 1.3 million visitors this year.

“We don’t budget for the prior year’s weather. It was warm last year. True, but it was a good weather year,” said Stampede CEO Joel Cowley.

“We factor in maybe we’ll get a couple of rainy days, and we factor in about 1.3 million. Obviously we’re set up to host more than that.”

The Conference Board of Canada in 2019 found the Stampede rakes in around $282 million for the 10-day festival, with $227 million of that staying in the local Calgary economy.

The Stampede says it will release updated numbers later this year, to compare how much the festival has brought in, with the new BMO Centre expansion fully operational for more than a year.

Last year, 73 percent of visitors were from the Calgary metro area, while eight percent were international, three of which were from the U.S.

“We saw really strong visitation from the U.S. in June,” said Tourism Calgary CEO Alisha Reynolds.

“We see anecdotally, lots of Americans moving around our community and saying they want to come here this has been a bucket list trip they’ve been thinking of, and they’ve heard about Calgary as a place of opportunity.”

Reynolds adds that Calgary visitation from the U.S. was a substantial number in 2024.

“Seventeen percent of our visitors came from the U.S.,” she said.

For local businesses such as Red’s Diner in Ramsay, this is when they see increased traffic, and more customers.

“Great to come chill, relax, have breakfast and then go down and kind of save you a little money,” said manager Nichole Casey.

“We get all of the Stampede people and all the organizers that do it, all the people, all the cowboys, all the princesses come in here. They always come in.”

Peak week for Calgary business: Chamber

The Chamber of Commerce believes this week is the pinnacle for many local businesses.

“For so many of them, this is the majority of their revenue for, for the year,” said president Deborah Yedlin.

“It’s really important for small businesses, and it really is an opportunity to grow your business, to think about new opportunities for your business in terms of expanding your market, maybe thinking of other products, whatever it is.

“This is absolutely critical for Calgary,” Yedlin added, “and I think as long as the weather holds, I think we’re going to have a really, really good 10 days.”

The mayor echoed Yedlin’s sentiment.

“Stampede means that jobs are created, that businesses are supported, that hotel rooms are filled and that patios are packed,” said Jyoti Gondek.

Stampede runs until July 13th, with access to the grounds open until midnight daily.