Tikumu’s letter

Press, 10 July 1979, Page 18

Tikumu’s letter

Dear Readers, This month hundreds of thousands of people will go to Calgary in the State of Alberta in Canada for the famous Calgary Stampede. Cowboys, Indians and red-coated mounted police will mingle with Canadians and other visitors front all parts of the world for what has been described as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.” It is mid-summer in Canada, and since 1914 the Calgary Stampede has been held each year during the first fortnight in July. For 10 days the spectators catch glimpses of the past as cowboys demonstrate the daring courage and skilled ridership that have become legend for film-makers and story-tellers. There are thrills and spills galore as hundreds of cowboys compete for rich prize money in rodeos. The excited crowds see saddle and bare-back bronco (unbroken horse) riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, bull riding, wild cow milking, wild buffalo rides and wild horse racing. There are events for boys under the age of 14, and these include steer wrestling. Boys who compete are usually the sons of cowboys, and their rodeo experience begins early —• some are only 10 when they start. Chuckwaggon races have been included in the programme of exciting events in recent years and they have added to the fame of the Calgary Stampede. A chuckwaggon is like a mobile cookhouse. It carries a stove, a barrel of water, food and cooking

utensils to cater for the cowboys when they are rounding up the cattle away out on the range for days at a time. Chuckwaggons do not look as if they were built for speed. They are chubby and have high dome-shaped tops. To watch the helter-skelter of these waggons, carrying five men, and drawn by teams of thoroughbred horses charging neck and neck for the finishing post must be the experience of a lifetime.' The Plains Indians come to town to add variety to the attractions of the Stampede programme at the Indian Village where Westerners can learn about their customs through their traditional singing and dancing, craft exhibitions and tepee-rais-ing contests. More familiar to us, though on a larger scale, are the trade and livestock exhibitions similar to our Industries Fair and Agricultural and Pastoral Show. There is an amusement park which is called the Frontier Fun Park where children enjoy the fun of the fair just as they do in Christchurch, and all over the world. Huge crowds of people dance in the streets and there are kerb-side breakfasts for the late-night revellers. It is mid-sum-mer, a festival that comes once a year for the people of Calgary, and perhaps once in a lifetime for most of the visitors, when the cowboys, the Indians and the Mounties meet in a spirit of high adventure, fun and friendship. Tikumu