Letters, June 29, 2026: 'Stampede a valuable tradition on many levels'

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Those folks who complain about the 10 days in July when Calgary becomes Cowtown should give their heads a shake. Unless you have been a mushroom, you should know the Stampede has been a tradition for a long, long time, even before most of you were even a twinkle in your father’s eye. And if you decided to re-locate to downtown Calgary, you should have been aware of this annual event that puts Calgary on the map, and generates millions of dollars in revenue for people and businesses. There are many benefits from ‘The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth,’ and maybe a small lesson in economics is in order. There is something called ‘the multiplier effect.’ For a simple example of how it works, let’s use a figure of $100. For most people or businesses, if you make a hundred dollars, it all doesn’t go into your savings account. You earned it for a reason, and you are lucky if you can save 10% of it. The other $90 is used to pay the daily expenses to keep yourself afloat. And whoever receives that $90, is in the same boat. They spend $81 and save 10%. That leaves about $ 73 for the next recipients who, again, are lucky if they can hang onto 10%. So you see the progression of the original $100 as it filters its way through the system. It isn’t long before it has generated income for a lot of people. With a multiplier of eight, the original money generated an additional $550. Now project the $100 to the hundreds of millions of dollars that the Stampede generates, and you can realize the significant contribution the Stampede makes to the local economy. Now, if you down-towners want to generate some income, you can become an Air BnB for a couple weeks ,and go sponge off your brother-in-law in Airdrie, or take your annual vacation to avoid the crowds. So you city councillors should realize the benefits of the Stampede and do all you can to ensure it continues as it has for a long time, and maybe invest in some clean-up crews, who will, again, add to the economy.

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