Calgary Stampede Trivia
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7correct to beat the crowd
58 free Calgary Stampede trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Every July Calgary paints its storefronts, puts on a cowboy hat and calls itself Cowtown for ten days. This quiz covers the whole of the Calgary Stampede, from the 1886 agricultural fair and the 1908 Dominion Exhibition to Guy Weadick, the American trick roper who talked four ranching millionaires into bankrolling a 'real' wild west show in 1912, and on to the modern event that draws well over a million people to Stampede Park. You will get questions on the rodeo and its $100,000 championship Sunday, on chuckwagon racing and the Rangeland Derby's tarp auction, on the parade marshals from Bing Crosby to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on Tom Three Persons and the Treaty 7 encampment now called Elbow River Camp, on the Saddledome, the Corral and Nashville North, and on the pancake breakfasts, the animal-welfare arguments and the pandemic cancellation of 2020. Easy questions suit anyone who has been to the grounds; the expert tier asks about the first Stampede Queen and the last unsponsored wagon. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the Stampede, chuckwagon racing, Guy Weadick and the venues, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question.
30 of 58 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which month is the Calgary Stampede held every year?
July
July came later: the first Stampede, in 1912, opened on Labour Day, at the start of September.
Q 02How does the Calgary Stampede bill itself?
The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth
The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth was big talk from the start: in 1912 its promoter pitched backers a frontier contest on a colossal scale, with big prizes to draw the best riders and ropers.
Q 03In the Stampede's barrel racing, horse and rider circle three barrels in what pattern?
A cloverleaf
A cloverleaf, run flat out: a rider may brush a barrel, but knocking one over adds five seconds, usually enough to put a win out of reach.
Q 04Which American trick roper organised the first Stampede in 1912?
Guy Weadick
Guy Weadick was born far from the range, in Rochester, New York; after touring with Wild West shows he wanted real cowboy contests in place of their staged tricks.
Q 05What nickname was given to the wealthy cattlemen who bankrolled the first Calgary Stampede in 1912?
The Big Four
The Big Four were Pat Burns, George Lane, Alfred Cross and Archie McLean, who pledged $25,000 each; the show was a hit, yet Calgary saw no repeat until 1919, when they backed it again.
Q 06The first Stampede in 1912 invited riders from Canada, the United States and which other country?
Mexico
Mexico was on the list because the founder wanted riders from every cattle district on the continent, and he lured them with a purse he billed as the richest rodeo had seen.
Q 07After the first Stampede in 1912, its founder staged his second a year later in which city?
Winnipeg
Winnipeg got the 1913 Stampede because Calgary's backers saw 1912 as a one-time party; the show did not return to Calgary until 1919.
Q 08The 1919 Stampede in Calgary was staged in honour of whom?
Soldiers returning from World War I
Soldiers returning from World War I were honoured at what was billed as the Victory Stampede; it stayed a one-off, and Calgary saw no Stampede again until 1923.
Q 09Why did Calgary's Exhibition merge with the Stampede in 1923?
Falling crowds and debts
Falling crowds and debts had the Exhibition close to being abandoned, so its manager hired the Stampede's founder, and the combined show became a permanent annual event.
Q 10Bulldogging is another name for which Stampede rodeo event?
Steer wrestling
Steer wrestling began as Wild West showman Bill Pickett's stunt, so unlike roping and bronc riding it never came from real ranch work.
Q 11What is the official name of the Stampede's wagon-racing competition?
Rangeland Derby
Rangeland Derby crews in the earliest races did not win at the finish line: they had to unhitch, pitch camp and light a fire, and the first smoke decided the winner.
Q 12At the start of a chuckwagon race, what do the outriders toss into the wagon before mounting up?
A stove
A stove goes in because the race re-enacts ranch crews breaking camp after a roundup; a crew that fails to load it takes a time penalty.
Q 13Which announcer, famed for 'and they're offfffff!', called the Stampede's wagon races for 45 years?
Joe Carbury
Joe Carbury's first love was hockey, where he called well over 1,000 games, yet his drawn-out wagon-race start made him the voice of the Stampede until he retired in 2008.
Q 21Which future prime minister, then a Calgary lawyer, handled the sale that gave the city the exhibition grounds in 1901?
R. B. Bennett
R. B. Bennett, by one account the mortgage lender's lawyer and by another briefly the owner, passed the grounds to the city, which is why the Stampede runs on leased, city-owned land.
Q 22The Stampede parade begins the festival on which day of the week?
Friday
Friday morning's parade opens the festival, and it was a draw from the start: the first one in 1912 reportedly drew 75,000 people or more, a bigger crowd than Calgary's whole population.
Q 23Which couple officially launched the 2011 Stampede parade?
Prince William and Kate
Q 14How do chuckwagon drivers sell the advertising space on their wagon covers before each Stampede?
At a tarp auction
At a tarp auction whose total Calgarians read as a gauge of the local economy: bids passed $4 million at the peak of the 2007 boom.
Q 15A bull rider at the Stampede rodeo must stay aboard for how long to earn a score?
Eight seconds
Eight seconds earns a score, but only half of it is the rider's: judges award up to 50 points to the cowboy and up to 50 to the bull for how hard it bucks.
Q 16What does the Stampede rodeo call the final day that decides its champions?
Showdown Sunday
Showdown Sunday wipes the slate clean: a week of earlier rounds only buys a place in it, and a single ride or run decides who takes each event's biggest cheque.
Q 17Most rodeo livestock comes from the Stampede Ranch, created in 1961 near which Alberta town?
Hanna
Hanna's ranch runs the Stampede's 'Born to Buck' breeding program, which turns horse breeding on its head by selecting for animals that buck harder rather than gentler ones.
Q 18Which First Nations cowboy became the only Canadian champion of the 1912 Stampede by riding Cyclone?
Tom Three Persons
Tom Three Persons became the first rider to stay aboard Cyclone, a bronc that had thrown more than 100 men, and the win made the Kainai cowboy one of the Stampede's first heroes.
Q 19The Treaty 7 nations' tipi encampment at the Stampede, long called the Indian Village, was renamed what in 2018?
Elbow River Camp
Elbow River Camp was chosen by the tipi owners themselves: each of the 26 tipis put names forward and a vote settled it, with Treaty 7 Camp the runner-up.
Q 20Why did the Stoney people boycott the 1950 Stampede?
Free treaty-card entry ended
Free treaty-card entry ended in 1950 for all but tipi owners, so the angry Stoneys stayed away; when storms battered that year's show, a tale spread that they had danced for rain.
Prince William and Kate launched the parade weeks after their wedding, extending a royal habit that began when the Duke of Connaught attended the very first Stampede.
Q 24Which two Hollywood entertainers each took a turn as the Stampede's parade marshal?
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby each led the parade in the years when the Stampede courted famous names to pull crowds; Walt Disney later took the same honour.
Q 25What happened when the Stampede's founder, fired by its board in 1932, sued for wrongful dismissal?
He won a modest award
He won a modest award: the court upheld his claim but gave him only a small sum plus legal costs, and he stayed away for 20 years until he rode in the 1952 parade as an honoured guest.
Q 26In 1919 a flying ace's failing plane, two passengers aboard, came down on top of which ride at Calgary's fair?
The merry-go-round
The merry-go-round caught him: Fred McCall lost power over the fairgrounds and set the plane down on the carousel's roof, and he and both passengers came away unhurt.
Q 27The Stampede set an attendance record that stood for twelve years while celebrating what?
Its centennial in 2012
Its centennial in 2012 drew 1,409,371 people, and the party coaxed Garth Brooks, who had quit full-time touring in 2001, into playing a rare concert.
Q 28What caused the first cancellation of the Stampede since it became a yearly event in 1923?
The COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic ended a yearly run that neither the Depression nor wartime had broken; in 2020 the closest thing on offer was a drive-through pancake breakfast.
Q 29Two weeks before the 2013 Stampede opened, the grounds were badly damaged by what?
Flooding
Flooding put nearly the whole park under water, yet crews rebuilt the track and infield in a fortnight and the gates opened on time under the rallying cry 'come hell or high water'.
Q 30What is the informal nickname of Calgary that reflects its Stampede identity?
Cowtown
Cowtown is a label the oil-company city grows into each July, when storefronts and office towers get cowboy paint jobs and pancake breakfasts pop up across town.