If you Google "Free Calgary Stampede Breakfasts" you'll find a fair number of guides to this free food phenomenon that takes place in Calgary during the ten days of the Stampede Rodeo. It is part of the western hospitality tradition up here in Alberta and both locals and visitors partake. I managed to make it to one myself this last trip down there and had a blast.
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| Breakfast country music. They were pretty good. |
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| Nice big crowd. |
I used to go and catch one a day every day during Stampede Week when I worked downtown. There were good ones and bad ones, but some were pretty deluxe with coffee, juice, pancakes (aka flapjacks or hotcakes), bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, and of course syrup for the pancakes. Businesses put them on, community associations, churches, the Stampede Board, and even the Provincial Government. You might have to wait in a long line, but there is often music and other entertainment to go along with the Yahoo! spirit of things! A visit to Calgary to the Stampede isn't complete without one.
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| Pancakes coming right up! |
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| Pancakes, sausage, and Starbucks coffee courtesy of the local neighbourhood shop! |
Edmonton has K-Days, which used to be Klondike Days, a smaller celebration than Stampede, but it has the same type of festive feel.
