Remembering a Calgary Stampede Tradition

The Stampede has started in Calgary, Alberta. That venerable time of year when the city goes from urban to rural overnight. Wannabe cowboys appear everywhere, storefronts are decorated with barn boards and hay bales along with the requisite "yahoo" painted on the windows. Pancake breakfasts abound. This year there is an iPhone app that will find the elusive flapjack feasts. Maple syrup fans rejoice. Country music oozes out of stores, cars, and bars. The city fixes the roads. Okay, I was kidding with that last one.

Stampede's arrival used to mean the arrival as well of the Big Downtown Cabaret. A past hallmark of Stampede festivities, the Big Downtown Cabaret (BDC) was a popular meeting place, a keep-the-buzz-going-after-the-Stampede-bbq-at-work place. The BDC was a place where you could create Stampede stories that would be told and retold for years to come. "Remember when you [insert embarrassing activity here]?" It was a place where you could become someone else for a few hours. A someone that only comes out at night during Stampede. A someone that drinks beer from a cowboy boot.

There once was more than one BDC. And they had fanciful, good-time-will-be-had-by-all names such as The Golden Garter and The Silver Slipper. And the people would start queuing up as early as 2 pm. Doors open at 6. These BDCs were essentially big, empty boxes, convention areas in downtown hotels, filled for the occasion with tables, chairs, and "country" decorations. Usually three or four bands would provide the two-stepping fun. People would dance and throw up. A good time was had by all. The BDCs were the place to go.

Times changed and the BDCs moved from the downtown hotel convention facilities to downtown nightclubs. Cowboys erected a tent beside their building which added another 2000 or so drunken patrons to the already filled to capacity nightclub. Other nightclubs followed suit. There were lots of good bands playing. There was lots of beer. Good times continued to be had by all. 

Then Cowboys lost its lease.The owners tried to open another Cowboys a few blocks from its original location but downtown merchants wouldn't have it. "We don't want the trouble that comes with nightclubs," they said. "We are scared," they meant. The gentrification of Victoria Park, the area around the Stampede grounds, was in full swing. Another nightclub BDC conveniently located two blocks from Stampede Park was swallowed up by city appropriation. And with that, BDCs disappeared. Good times too. Now where can people go to gather and collectively get as drunk as possible? What can be used as the excuse for calling in sick at work the next day? Where do you go to hear Hank Williams' songs?

The end of the Big Downtown Cabarets is the end of a unique time in Calgary when live music was king, especially during the Stampede. This is not to say that live music has entirely disappeared during Stampede week, there are still bands and singers playing here and there, but the ubiquity of live music during Stampede has substantially dwindled. In a lot of ways it's too bad. The BDCs were the reason people went downtown. Stampede was sure to vitalize not only the hotels that hosted the BDCs but also the restaurants and other clubs in the vicinity. They were a destination. They added an atmosphere of decadence and depravity, a kind of safe walk on the Dark Side, complete with boots and hat. In short, they were a lot of fun, not only for the wannabe cowboys but the musicians that played them.

Here's to the Big Downtown Cabarets. May they rest in peace.