Rodeo rules and reality gets rowdy
~ hang on, keep your hat on, and hope your ride goes well
It’s Stampede time in Calgary. That means jeans everywhere suits usually go, cowboy hats on people who’ve never seen a branding iron, and conversations are fueled by syrup, sausage, and pancake stacks of pancakes, because business pauses for fun and the entire country looks to us for fun that sometimes time needs to stop for sleep …
It’s easy to dismiss it all as prairie theatre. But something deeper happens here. People show up, lean in, and reconnect. Even the introverts step into the churn; not always because we want to, but because we’re wired to belong.
You don’t have to love rodeo, line dancing, or midway chaos to understand. The pull of Stampede isn’t just a civic costume party, it’s ten days when Calgary becomes the city everyone else in Canada quietly envies. Business pauses for breakfasts. Beer tents replace boardrooms. Deals are inked in denim instead of suits and eastern execs make a trip to the Calgary office and vacant hotel rooms are rare.
For many, showing up isn’t optional. It’s part of the social contract. Client events, networking circuits, but it’s not forced camaraderie with colleagues you avoid the other 355 days of the year. It’s fun, but it’s exhausting. There’s a deeper truth beneath the pancake breakfasts, country music and sleep deprivation. We are social animals. We gather, even when we’d rather retreat. We smile, shake hands, and play the game.
Because somewhere in the crowd, there’s magic. Unexpected connection. A reminder that community isn’t a place, it lives in actions. It’s built inti the noise and nurtured in small, sincere moments: a shared joke, a spontaneous conversation, a second coffee with someone who matters.
So yes, hang on. Keep your hat on. And let the moment take you, even if it’s not your scene. Because reality, like rodeo, doesn’t wait for you to be ready.
A horn sounds, hooves pound, gates open, this year’s ride begins. If you’re lucky, you leave with more than a hangover or a sunburn, you leave with a story that gets better each time you tell it.
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