Rock Ramblings: The best parts of Stampede

By Medicine Hat News on July 27, 2017.

Yee-haw! It’s Stampede Week in the Gas City!

The Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede always brings excitement to our community and gets lots of people out and about to different events and activities. I love Stampede Week; seeing all the familiar faces and taking it all in. While there are lots of different parts of the event each year, here are what I consider to be the best parts!

The Parade — This morning is the parade, which might honestly be my favourite part of Stampede Week. I usually have a different view than most, being the person for the past eight years who has driven the 105.3 ROCK Patrol in the parade. For me it’s always a blast seeing the different array of people all smiling and waving. For people enjoying the parade, there are so many awesome and different floats, the live bands, horses and other great things to see. The parade is a blast for one and all!

The Food — How many other times of the year can you indulge in so many different rich, delicious and high calorie foods? Everything from elephant ears, cotton candy and lemonade to local foods like Wannawafel, Swirls and Pooty’s Poutine! My personal favourites? An old fashioned root beer float and a taco in a bag! I know you can get taco in a bag lots of places but damn it makes a great lunch while I’m down at the 105.3 ROCK booth!

The Rodeo — What is a Stampede without the rodeo? If you have never seen a live rodeo event I highly recommend it. It’s highly competitive and exhilarating! There are lots of different events but my favourite are the tie-down roping, one of the most technical events in rodeo, the ladies’ barrel racing which is a mix of speed and agility as the rider and her horse have to complete a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels and, of course, the most dangerous and intense eight seconds of rodeo, the bull riding event.

The Rides — At some point or another who hasn’t gone to the Stampede specifically for the rides? I remember growing up and going to the Brooks Rodeo on Friday night for Midnight Madness and taking in all the rides I could! While I become less and less of a rides person as I age, on account of the increasing nausea they bring me, there is still the odd ride that I will always enjoy. If you’re down at Stampede take in the Gravitron for me as I hear it’s back this year and you can bet they will be blaring some AC/DC while you whip around.

The Music/Entertainment — There is so much music and entertainment to take in each year at the Stampede. There is free entertainment everywhere filled with live music, hypnotists and of course the Spruce Meadow Prairie Dogs. Plus you can’t forget about the night shows! Tonight you can check out Blue Rodeo and then Saturday night The Band Perry closes out the week.

While you’re down on the midway don’t forget to follow the sound of your favourite rockers because it will bring you over to the 105.3 ROCK booth where you can say hi to the ROCK Patrol, get free stuff and enter to win an awesome prize! See ya there!

Amber Beierbach is 105.3 ROCK’s Promo Guru! You can also hear her on air Tuesdays from 7-10 p.m.