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FRENCH CONNECTION: Have a good Stampede

In former days the Williams Lake Stampede weekend was a wild time
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Oops .The Saskatchewan Premier who replaced Tommy Douglas was Woodrow Lloyd, not Woodrow Wilson as I reported last week.

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After missing two years, stampede enthusiasts are more than happy about this year.

I attended my first Williams Lake stampede in 1970, the year our family moved here. Every Cariboo community we’d lived in had stampedes so I was no stranger to the sport, but I’d never been in town for the Big One.

Williams Lake used to pull out all stops to be a wild western town back then. One stampede promoter once made the rounds of Vancouver bars advertising the stampede as “a weekend you’ll never remember.”

Like the rural rodeos, this event was a community affair, almost everyone who didn’t flee town to get away from it was involved one way or another.

Businesses had floats in the parade and every establishment had the western theme. The bigger volunteer clubs hosted entertainment — dances, casinos, whatever, smaller groups had concession stands . Everyone dressed western. Once there was a pretend guillotine downtown and people not properly outfitted were put in it.

Many stampede competitors were local so there was always someone you knew in the arena events.

Not surprisingly, the “wild” part got out of hand. Despite dozens of imported policemen, partiers made trouble all over town, bar fights, people flinging empty bottles, broken windows, broken glass everywhere. The open air dance hall on the stampede grounds was almost dangerous. Lots of folks ended up in the hospital emergency room.

City council put an end to it. It took a some time. The first step was getting rid of the open air dance hall. The bull throw went much later.

Today’s stampedes are safer, saner, and more respectable, but they still are fun.

Have a good one.