I can only do the Stampede on even years, for obvious reasons. It is a vulgar tribute to Alberta's heritage and too much of it will warp your brain. It's really hard to take sometimes; all these drunks vomiting and fighting dressed like they're out of some old western dime-store paperback. Even professional people around town dress like cowboys for 10 days in July because they are "in the spirit of things". But really they look like escaped mental patients.
The rodeo aspect is fine. The Chucks are entertaining and you can usually get in on a few wagers in the stands. But that grandstand show is a spectacle nobody needs. It goes on for hours and those Young Canadians creep the hell out of me; with their freaky eyes and jazz hands...Weird.
Anyway, the carnival is your typical carnival anywhere else and the food is typically disgusting. They soak rancid beef in that atrocious Bulls-Eye barbecue sauce (like we can't tell the difference) and charge hefty prices for beans.
The rodeo is worth it though. Just leave when you start to spot a bunch of shiny midgets in cowboy regalia milling around the stage area. Get out quickly at that point and say nothing.....