The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing, and First Nations exhibitions. In 2008, the Calgary Stampede was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
Stewart Edward Hart was a Canadian amateur and professional wrestler, wrestling booker, promoter, and coach. He is best known for founding and handling Stampede Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, teaching many individuals at its associated wrestling school "The Dungeon" and establishing a professional wrestling dynasty consisting of his relatives and close trainees. As the patriarch of the Hart wrestling family, Hart is the ancestor of many wrestlers, most notably being the father of Bret and Owen Hart as well as the grandfather of Natalya Neidhart, Teddy Hart and David Hart Smith.
Peter Charles Knight was a Canadian and World Champion Rodeo Bronc Rider. Knight was the acclaimed "King of the Cowboys" of the 1930s, and held the Rodeo Association of America title "World Champion Bronc Rider" for 1932, 1933, 1935, and 1936. The Rodeo Hall of Fame in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum inducted Knight in 1958. The Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame inducted him in 1998. The ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, inducted Knight in the Saddle Bronc Riding category when it opened its doors in 1979.
Oscar Lopez is a Chilean-Canadian guitarist, whose signature style blends Latin and jazz styles.
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking. The term "fingerstyle" is something of a misnomer, since it is present in several different genres and styles of music—but mostly, because it involves a completely different technique, not just a "style" of playing, especially for the guitarist's picking/plucking hand. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking except in classical guitar circles, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. The terms "fingerstyle" and "fingerpicking" are also applied to similar string instruments such as the banjo.
Donald James Ross is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist. He was the first person to win the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice. His album Huron Street reached the top ten on the Billboard New-age chart.
Norman Lim Kwong was a Canadian professional football player who played for the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was also an active businessman and politician being part owner of the Calgary Flames and serving as the 16th lieutenant governor of Alberta from January 2005 to May 2010.
The Battle of Alberta is a term applied to the intense rivalry between the Canadian cities of Calgary, the province's most populous city, and Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta. Most often it is used to describe sporting events between the two cities, although this is not exclusive as the rivalry predates organized sports in Alberta.
Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the promotion competed with other promotions such as NWA All-Star Wrestling and Pacific Northwest Wrestling and regularly ran events in Calgary's Victoria Pavilion, Ogden Auditorium and the Stampede Corral between 1948 until 1984 when bought out by promoter Vince McMahon, the company was briefly run by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) before being sold back to the Hart family the following year. Run by Bruce Hart until January 1990, he and Ross Hart reopened the promotion in 1999 and began running events in the Alberta area.
David Dickenson is a Canadian-American professional football head coach and general manager for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played as a quarterback with the Stampeders and the BC Lions, where he won the 2006 Grey Cup and was named the game's MVP. Dickenson played college football for the Montana Grizzlies, where he led the team to the 1995 NCAA Division I-AA college football championship.
Thomas Joseph John Higgins Jr. is the defensive coordinator for the Calgary Colts of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL). He has previously served as the Director of Officiating for the Canadian Football League (CFL) and is a former Canadian and American football player, head coach, and general manager.
Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop. The band found early success with their 2006 debut EP A Lesson in Crime, which they followed with several popular releases including the albums Elephant Shell and Champ in 2008 and 2010, respectively. During the 2010s, they released three other studio albums. Among other nominations, the band has been twice nominated for the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year, in 2011 for Champ and in 2019 for TPC. They announced their breakup in 2024.
Andy McKee is an American fingerstyle guitar player who has released six studio albums, three extended plays, and one live album to date. A number of YouTube videos featuring McKee's highly-technical guitar performances have achieved viral fame, garnering hundreds of million of views collectively.
Archibald James McLean was a cattleman and politician from Ontario, Canada. He was one of the Big Four who helped found the Calgary Stampede in 1912.
Dave Ruhl was a Canadian professional wrestler who during his near 30-year career competed in North American regional promotions in Western Canada and the Canadian Prairies as well as in Japan and other international promotions. A longtime mainstay of Calgary-based Stampede Wrestling during the 1960s and early 70s, he engaged in memorable feuds with Sweet Daddy Siki and The Stomper over the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship.
The 102nd Grey Cup was a Canadian football game played November 30, 2014, between the West Division champion Calgary Stampeders and East Division champion Hamilton Tiger-Cats, to determine the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2014 season. The contest was held at BC Place stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Stampeders won the contest 20–16 to claim their seventh Grey Cup championship in franchise history and first since 2008. Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was named the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player, while Hamilton's Andy Fantuz received the Dick Suderman Trophy as most outstanding Canadian.
Donald L. Alder, or Don Alder, is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist, singer, songwriter, composer, and speaker.
Greg Vavra is a former Canadian football quarterback who played five seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Calgary Stampeders, BC Lions and Edmonton Eskimos.
Marcin Patrzałek, known mononymously as Marcin, is a Polish percussive fingerstyle guitarist, composer, and producer. He is known for combining fingerstyle, percussive guitar techniques with modern electronic and orchestral production. He first gained popularity in 2015 after winning the ninth edition of Polish talent show Must Be The Music, the prize for which was 100,000 Polish złoty and an additional 100,000 złoty for promotion of his music on Polish radio station RMF FM. After local success, he went on to release his debut record HUSH, the release of which was accompanied by singles including Patrzalek's percussive arrangement of Isaac Albéniz's "Asturias"; the video of the arrangement was released through fingerstyle label CandyRat Records. In subsequent years, Patrzałek's popularity grew rapidly beyond Polish borders due to multiple viral releases online. His videos were posted and discussed by notable publishers such as Rolling Stone, Metal Hammer, Classic FM, Guitar World, Billboard as well as independently. Patrzalek's performances have amassed over 150 million views online, the main contributors to this number being his solo acoustic guitar arrangements of major classical pieces such as Moonlight Sonata or Beethoven's 5th Symphony, as well as popular music, rock arrangements, and original compositions.
Tom Three Persons was a Niitsitapi rodeo athlete and rancher and a member of the Kainai Nation (Blood). Best known for winning the saddle bronc competition at the inaugural Calgary Stampede in 1912. An Indigenous athlete, he was the only Canadian to win a championship at this historic rodeo competition.
