Everything you need to know about the 2024 Calgary Stampede
It is the final weekend of the 2024 Calgary Stampede and attendance is on-track to be record-breaking, with total visitor numbers now over 1 million.
135,351 people visited the Stampede on Thursday, down from Sunday’s all-time-high daily attendance of 201,260 people.
Calgary Stampede music picks for July 12
Coca Cola Stage
Who: Noah Cyrus, on stage at 8 p.m.
Miley’s kid sister followed a similar path, arriving on the scene as a precocious child actress/singer before maturing into an angsty young singer-songwriter in her own right. The Grammy-nominated artist released her first full-length, The Hardest Part, in 2022 and was in the spotlight earlier this year with the single How Far Will We Take It? — her duet with Orville Peck.
Cowboys Music Festival
Who: Shaggy, doors open at 4 p.m.
Shaggy is back at Cowboys Music Festival for the second year in a row. The long-time musician is known for his classic hits It Wasn’t Me and Bombastic though he has a hefty discography of hits dating back to the early 90’s, with something for everyone.
Scotiabank Saddledome
Who: Miranda Lambert, doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Country-music icon Miranda Lambert plays the Scotiabank Saddledome to kick off the final weekend of Stampede. Lambert’s 2022 album Palomino arrived as the largest female country album debut of the year, and landed her a Grammy nomination and a spot on several “best of the year” lists. Opening for her is Canadian country superstar Jess Moskaluke.
Stampede attendance on track to surpass all-time record
The Calgary Stampede surpassed one million total visitors on Thursday, setting it on track to outstrip the previous all-time attendance record set in 2012.
With another 135,351 people coming to the grounds Thursday, the total for the 2024 outdoor show reached 1,040,723 visitors.
Thursday’s numbers were lower than Sunday’s, when 201,260 people came to the park — setting the all-time record for single-day attendance.
Trends put Stampede on track to crack the 2023 total attendance of 1,384,632 — and potentially the all-time record of 1.4 million set in 2012.
High temperatures throughout the first half of the 10-day show have seared the grounds, but seemingly left visitors undeterred.
Man fined for unauthorized drone use over Stampede Park
Flying a drone in the restricted airspace surrounding Stampede Park has led to a man being fined.
Members of the Calgary police remote pilot aircraft systems enforcement team saw someone flying a drone on Stampede grounds around 11 p.m. Tuesday. This coincided with the Stampede’s fireworks and drone performance, “causing disruption to the show and crowd safety concerns,” police said in a statement issued Thursday.
During the Calgary Stampede, no aircraft are allowed from 5 a.m. to 3 a.m. within one nautical mile of Stampede Park, to a height of 450 feet above ground level.
“Limited and pre-approved exceptions include drone use for law enforcement and event management purposes,” police said.
Jordan Mitchell, 24, was fined under the administrative monetary penalty program for unsafe drone operation, although police didn’t specify the amount of the fine.
Unauthorized criminal use of a drone could result in jail time, according to Canadian aviation regulation, while other unauthorized use putting aircraft and people at risk could lead to a fine of as much as $3,000.
Anyone who suspects unauthorized drone use at the Calgary Stampede is asked to call police at 403-266-1234.
Calgary’s Jacob Stemo gets emergency call to ride in Stampede bareback
Jacob Stemo was amped to be in the stands for his home-town rodeo Thursday.
But then he got the call — out of the blue — to actually compete in the shootin’ match.
And that dang-sure drove up his excitement for the Calgary Stampede.
“I got the call at 11:55 to come down here and get on,” said the Calgarian of the 90-minute notice to gear up for the bareback event after Oklahoma’s Jayco Roper bowed out of The Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth.
The last time Stemo was in the show at GMC Stadium was back in 2019.
Calgary teens rock the Coca-Cola Stage at Stampede
More than a dozen Calgary teens got a taste of the big stage on Thursday, performing for crowds at the Calgary Stampede.
Local groups from two School of Rock music schools in Calgary rocked out for two shows on the Coca-Cola Stage, playing both old and new tracks.
Some members of the groups have had a chance to play the Coca-Cola Stage before, while it was the first time for others, according to School of Rock Calgary music director and teacher Ryan Marchant.
He said seeing his students on the stage Thursday made him “beam with pride.”
“I’m just so happy that they get these chances — they’re all incredible for their age, just the skill level is insane,” said Marchant. “It’s pure pride, it’s amazing. I’m so proud of all of them.
“It’s an incredible honour — just being someone from Alberta, I’ve lived here my whole life, I know how iconic the Coke Stage is.”
Cochrane daredevil soars back into Stampede motocross shows after ‘nasty’ crash
A little more than 10 months ago, Cody Matechuk was laid up and recovering from a broken back he suffered in a shocking freestyle motocross show crash.
Weeks after his first Calgary Stampede appearance, the Cochrane daredevil was at a Washington state fair performing what’s known as the Holy Grab when his chest protector got hooked on the rear fender.
Arms fully extended, his body horizontal and off the bike, Matechuk grabbed onto the rear frame and held on before slamming into the air-filled landing pad. The impact buckled his body in an unearthly way between the fender and rear tire.
Matechuk, who posted shudder-inducing video of the spill on his Instagram account, fractured the L3 vertebrae in his lower back.
“Nasty” is how he terms the crash. Remarkable might describe his recovery.
What our photographers saw
