The “Greatest Frontier Days’ Celebration Ever Attempted”: shaping civic and regional identity in the Calgary Stampede

Potter, Norman B. (2025) The “Greatest Frontier Days’ Celebration Ever Attempted”: shaping civic and regional identity in the Calgary Stampede. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The Calgary Stampede, presently marketed as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth,” has been the subject of scholarly attention from various disciplines ranging from veterinary medicine to sociology and history. This study examines several aspects of the event, with the aim of examining the ways in which the Stampede has been presented to the public, and especially the ways in which that presentation has been adapted to fit changing cultural norms and responses to public scrutiny. Furthermore, this study examines how the Stampede has shaped civic and regional identities. This study looks thematically at the representation of Indigenous peoples, masculinity, and non-human animals in the event. It further examines how the Stampede organization has shaped the event’s marketing around history, tradition, and spectacle. This study uses historical records examined through frameworks such as Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, Guy Debord’s theory of the spectacle, and Mary Louise Pratt’s notion of contact zones to explain the event’s continued popularity. The result is a series of thematically organized chapters which illustrate the ways in which the seemingly static aspects of the Stampede are adjusted to suit ever-changing cultural expectations and norms while maintaining an air of historicity that links the event to its origins. The competing goals of rooting the event in the province’s past and keeping it relevant to contemporary audiences necessitate a continuous renegotiation of the attractions, marketing, and aesthetics of the Stampede, along with a simultaneous focus on historical moments from its past.

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