Gearin' Up

Stampede is over a week old, but you can tell that things are starting to ramp up. Stephen Avenue is rife with music acts and tables of shoddy merchandise ready to be sold. Does anyone know of any other city that is so into its local Fair than Calgary?

First thing to do is get a breakfast and lunch schedule. Now, I recall a super huge one at the Petro-Can tower, there's another at the Sun-Life building, but not sure of the days. If anyone knows of an online schedule, I beg of you to post it in the comments. Of all the places that I've worked, its always a generally accepted fact that its expected that the Firm will lose man hours due to Stampede Breakfasts and Lunches.

Next is to set aside time for the company party. Now, as you know, I work for the government, so any partying that involves the consumption of beer must be done OFF HOURS. So be it. We'll leave the noon-hour boozin' to the executives in the private sector.

After this, its time to think about the Stampede Grounds: where to get the ride passes for the kids. They have to ride the rides on the Midway, don't they? So, I recall that they're being sold at Mac's this year, not Safeway. Must remember this. We also have to think about which day to take off to go to the Grounds, which involves quite a bit of strategy. You want to pick a day favourable in terms of weather, while choosing a day that is not especially busy.

Next on the list is to check the Stampede Gear. Boots? Shirts? Jeans? Got to make sure this is all in order. You don't want to look like a dork wearing khakis and a golf shirt.

Sometimes you can also luck out with some extra entertainment with the protesters. You get the usual crowd all year, but sometimes the Stampede can bring out some bonus entertainment. Last year, the Animal Rights group was especially entertaining, some folks dressed in funeral gear pretending to cry while holding up pictures of dead animals. Pretty sure those seals weren't killed at the Stampede, ma'am.

Anyway, back to that online Stampede Breakfast and Lunch guide. The search continues...