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Calgary Stampede adventures with Williams Lake Stampede royals

Travelling to the Calgary Stampede is exciting, but knowing it was the 100th year of the Calgary Stampede was exciting.
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Stampede Queen Alexis Forseille and Stampede Princess Terris Billyboy at the Calgary Stampede.

Travelling to the Calgary Stampede is exciting, but knowing it was the 100th year of the Calgary Stampede sent the excitement level through the roof.

On July 5 we arrived in Calgary to begin an adventurous weekend.

Friday, July 6 began with Stampede Princess Terris Billyboy and I meeting John Scott, the producer of the Heartland television series and the horses he was supplying us for the parade.

It was amazing to be a part of this huge parade. It went directly through downtown Calgary and looped back to our starting point at Fort Calgary.

It was incredible to see the amount of people watching the parade along the side of the streets, in the high rise parkades and on the bleachers specially set up for the parade.

The horses we were given simply walked right through despite all the excitement around us and I was very pleased to be granted the opportunity to ride the parade route as visiting royalty, proudly representing our city of Williams Lake.

That night we met up with the 29 other visiting royalties for a meet and greet. We had the chance to introduce ourselves to some wonderful young women and to hear about what their royalty life is like.

Speaking with other royalty is really helpful for Terris and me as we are just beginning our reign, and any information will help our knowledge grow.

The Calgary Stampede Queen’s Alumni hosted a visiting royalty day on Saturday, July 7, which was filled with many exciting features. We were introduced at two of the city’s largest pancake breakfasts before being taken to the Stampede grounds for lunch. After a hosted lunch the royalty was taken to watch the Stampede. We had the perfect viewing area, standing room right beside the arena.

During the performance we were introduced, on the main stage, to the Calgary Stampede crowd. Watching the rodeo up close was one of the many highlights!

After the Stampede we were given a tour of the chuck wagon barns and taught some of the history behind chuck wagon racing.

I quite enjoyed seeing the horses and the wagons up close while they were getting ready for the night, as well as meeting a few of the drivers.

Lastly, we ended the visiting royalty day by being introduced at the sheep shearing finals.

I would like to extend a thank you to the Calgary Stampede Queen’s Alumni for touring us around and making us feel very welcome at the 100th year stampede.

The last two days were spent in Calgary and at the Stampede grounds.

We took in various events such as a heavy horse show, a hypnotist show, and Karl Wolf on the Coca Cola stage.

Terris and I, plus our chaperones Davana Mahon and Silvia Seibert-Dubray, also decided to check out the huge trade show in the BMO centre.

On our last day we happily worked at a children’s breakfast for kids with MS.

We also took in the famous chuck wagon races that night; again we were very fortunate to have our passes as we were given arena side standing room to watch the races. Yet another highlight in a grand weekend!

However, after chuck wagon racing our last night finished with a bang. We ended our amazing weekend excitedly watching Paul Brandt at the evening grandstand show which was followed by the nightly fireworks.

Overall our experience in Calgary was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I am pleased to have shared with our Princess Terris Billyboy and our chaperones Davana and Silvia. I would highly recommend taking in the Calgary Stampede and enjoying everything it has to offer.

Thank you to Davana and Silvia for chaperoning us during our adventure!

I definitely did not want to leave Calgary. However, I am looking forward to the summer and sharing more of the adventures we encounter with all of you.