What Values Informed the Creation of the Calgary Stampede and the History Behind Our Tepee

Introduction

The Calgary Stampede is one of the most popular festivals in the world, and it attracts over 1 million visitors annually. The District Agricultural Society hosted the first event in 1888 and since then, it has grown in popularity and has incorporated many shows and performances that attract diverse groups that identify with the Canadian cultural heritage. Some of the values that inspired the Calgary Stampede include hospitality, education, cultural pride, and youth empowerment.

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One of the vital features of the show is the display of Teepees, which were shelters for the nomadic tribes with the Canadian Prairies and the Great Plains of North America. Although Teepees are largely used for ceremonial purposes in the modern age, they reflect the roots of the Canadian culture. As a family, we own Teepees and usually display them during the Calgary Stampede so that people across the world can learn the way of life that the olden generations experienced. This paper will evaluate the values which underscore the Calgary Stampede. The paper will also give a brief history of the Teepees, as it relates to my family, to enhance awareness of the rich Canadian heritage.

The Calgary Stampede

This is an annual festival, exhibition, and rodeo that Canadians celebrate every July. It attracts over 1 million visitors annually over a 10-day period, and some of the activities that are on display include a midway, parade, rodeo, agricultural competitions, stage shows, and others. The Calgary Stampede began in 1886 after the District Agricultural Society developed the first fair in Calgary. Its goals were to motivate ranchers and farmers to move to western Canada through promoting the town. However, the event has grown and incorporated many events that attract many tourists from across the globe. Currently, the event is marketed as the "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", and it has incorporated support from multiple stakeholders who identify with the event.

Values That Informed the Calgary Stampede

There are various values that inspired the creation of the Calgary Stampede. The first value is cultural pride, and the stampede sought to showcase the culture of Canada, with specific focus on Calgary. The event showcases different attributes of the Canadian culture which include its rodeos, music, arts, parades, agricultural products, and games, among others. One of the goals of the Stampede was to create a platform where the cultural diversity of Calgary can be exhibited to the world. Its founders recognized the rich cultural history of Calgary and were inspired to share it with people from different parts of the globe. Currently, over 1 million visitors from diverse regions in the world visit the event and they experience what Calgary has to offer in terms of its cultural heritage. Cultural pride is therefore an important element that informed the development of the Calgary Stampede.

Another value that informed the event is empowerment of the youth. According to the Calgary Stampede Foundation one of the key goals of the event is to use the funds they generate from ticket sales to support youth programs and projects in Southern Alberta and Calgary. There are many young people with skills and talents in the arts and business, among other sectors, and the event founders felt that they needed to support these young people to empower them to pursue their dreams and attain their potential in life. The Calgary event generates $150 million yearly, and it spends a large proportion of the funds on youth programs such as the Calgary Stampede Showband, International Youth Livestock Scholarships, Stampede school, and the Young Canadians School of Performing Arts. The stakeholders are passionate towards empowering young people within Calgary and Canada at large, and this is one of the core reasons why they hold the event.

Education is the third value that motivated the founders to create the Calgary Stampede. Besides entertaining people, the event plays a vital role of educating visitors on various issues such as the arts and agriculture. Moreover, the Calgary Foundation runs agricultural programs and provides agricultural education resources to interested parties. For instance, it has previously hosted events that include "Aggie Days", which teach elementary students and teachers about Alberta's agricultural industry. In addition, the Calgary Stampede is open to school children from the region that can use its heritage cattle ranch and the Stampede Park to learn more about a variety of topics relating to western values, heritage and hospitality. These programs and opportunities within the Calgary Stampede are a reflection of the dedication that the event founders hold towards the value of education.

Finally, hospitality also inspired the creation of the Calgary Stampede. In particular, the founders of the event strived to promote tourism within the Calgary region. When the event was formed in 1884, one of its goals was to promote the town. Currently, the Calgary Stampede tourism team performs the role of promoting and selling Calgary as a tourism destination to leisure markets globally. Tourism is an important sector in most countries, as it attracts revenues that are used for development among other purposes. To promote hospitality and tourism, the Mayor of Calgary during the 1950s started a culture of offering the Calgary White Hat to visiting dignitaries. The culture is still practiced in modern day and most people view it as the ultimate symbol of hospitality in Calgary. The city has successfully marketed itself as a pillar of hospitality and tourism since 1 million tourists visit the event yearly.

History of Our Teepees

Teepees are cone-shaped tents usually made from wooden poles and animal skins. They are the indigenous homes of nomadic tribes from the Canadian Prairies and the Great Plains of North America. The top of the structure has smoke flaps, and this distinguishes Teepees from other conical tents. These structures are generally used for ceremonial purposes by indigenous communities in modern day and age. The Lakota (Sioux) community invented the Canadian Tepee, and it used buffalo hides. This invention rapidly spread throughout North America by the time the white people arrived. Teepees are popular among many societies in higher latitudes within the northern hemisphere. They are particularly common in north Scandinavia, Siberia, and North America.

Personally, my husband and I own TeePees, and we showcase them at the Calgary Stampede. They have been in existence in our family history and have been passed across from generation to generation. The Teepees are part of our family's rich cultural heritage and they help the modern generations to understand the way of life and challenges that the previous generations experienced. Moreover, the Teepees also facilitated the transmission of our family values across generations, as family members learn the significance of principles such as hard work, resilience, empathy, and respect for cultural diversity. We plan to pass the Teepees to our children and grandchildren so that they can continue with the family tradition of sharing our cultural heritage with the world, at the Calgary Stampede. The event is therefore important to us as a family and it furthers cross-generation transmission of cultural values.

Conclusion

In summary, the Calgary Stampede plays a significant role in showcasing the Canadian culture to the world. It was founded on values that include hospitality, education, cultural pride, and youth empowerment. The event has been successful as it attracts over 1 million visitors annually. It has also supported several programs that empower youth and disseminate knowledge on Canada's rich cultural heritage. Moreover, one of its attractions is the Teepees, which were indigenous homes of Northern American communities. As a family, we showcase our Teepees during the Calgary Stampede to teach newer generations about the experiences, challenges, and way of life that older generations lived. Moreover, we will share our family cultural heritage with subsequent generations so that they can also display the Teepees during future stampedes. The stakeholders of the Calgary Stampede should sustain the event so that future generations can learn about Canada and its historical roots and events They should also market and expand the event to attract more visitors annually so that Calgary and the neighboring regions can gain from the multiple benefits that this event brings to Canada.

Bibliography

Calgary Stampede. About us. Retrieved from www.calgarystampede.com, 2019

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Fletcher Robson. "How the Calgary Stampede makes and spends $150M per year". CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-stampede-money-corporate-structure-foundation-1.4735486, 2018

Genealogy Website. The Teepee. Retrieved from https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/the-teepee.htm, 2016

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Joudrey Susan."What a Man: Portrayals of Masculinity and Race in Calgary Stampede Ephemera" Cultural Studies 16(1) 2015. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708615615608

The Calgary Stampede Foundation. Values. Retrieved from https://foundation.calgarystampede.com/about-us/values.html, 2019