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CHAPTER TWO
The World Wars
1914-1945
The 1915 Exhibition became known as the “Khaki Fair” because it featured military tattoos and parades as well as demonstrations of military exercises.
The Stampede was not held again between 1920 and 1923.
1923
ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
An economic downturn hit Calgary in the 1920s, and the Exhibition was losing money. They had invested in significant additions to Stampede Park in 1919, including a new, fireproof, Grandstand. However, postwar labour troubles and the high cost of building materials meant that improving the grounds was much more expensive than anticipated. These costs were compounded by a failed crop that fall. By 1920, Western Canada was in recession. To save the Exhibition, Ernie Richardson looked to offer better entertainment by incorporating the Stampede in it, so he hired Guy Weadick as an arena manager.
With Weadick’s encouragement, the entire city participated in celebrating the event. Merchants decorated their storefronts, everyone was encouraged to dress western and there was a daily 2-hour parade downtown featuring First Nations in full regalia. There was also a cowboys and old timers street dance (which, by 1928, took up an entire city block). Weadick also decided that he needed to come up a new and exciting event to mark the first year that the Stampede and Calgary Exhibition were joining forces in a single event. He came up with the chuckwagon races, which were inspired by his time on the range watching wagons compete to be the first unit to set up camp at each new stop along the trail.
The first Stampede breakfast was held in 1923, and became an annual tradition. Seen here, pancake breakfast in downtown Calgary, 1924.
Cowboys and city dwellers enjoying pancakes in downtown Calgary, 1924.
The 1923 Stampede Parade was a well-attended event.
Elephant rides were a popular entertainment in 1923. The Grandstand can be seen in the background.
Trying to attract more visitors to Victoria Park exhibition grounds, Ernie Richardson put on a winter carnival in 1921 and 1922. The Grandstand ski jump was supposed to be the highlight, but Calgary's wild winter weather limited its use.
With chuckwagon races, the first pancake breakfasts and downtown businesses decorating their storefronts, the Stampede as we know it today was born.
History of Chuckwagon Races
The very first chuckwagon competition at the Calgary Stampede occurred in 1923. Stampede founder Guy Weadick recruited ranchers to enter their chuckwagon and roundup crews in competition, and the Rangeland Derby was born.
Billed as the No. 10 Event evening competition, the "Cowboy's Chuck-Wagon Race" offered purses and prizes totaling $275. An outfit consisted of four horses, a wagon, a driver and four helpers. The Yukon's Bill Sommers won the first race. For the Official Canadian Championship, each outfit was required to "Cut a figure eight around barrels, out through backstretch into track, run around track back to camp ground, unhook team from wagon, stretch fly. No less than two stakes, and make fire. First smoke decides winner."
First place Day Money was $25, with $15 and $10 for second and third. The entrant winning the greatest number of races out of five was awarded a special prize: a $25 John B. Stetson hat.
Over the years the sport and the format evolved. In 1975 entry became limited to the top 32 outfits from the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. In subsequent years various independents and rodeo associations were invited to compete. Currently the Stampede invites the top 16 drivers and outfits from the previous year's GMC Rangeland Derby back, joining a selection of drivers from the two professional circuits.
