Ferris Wheel at the Stampede, Calgary, AB
©2004 Duleepa Wijayawardhana
Album Notes
During the summer months the province of Alberta is besieged by festivals. In Edmonton alone you can expect at least one major festival every weekend from June 1 to September 1. Chief among them is the world famous Calgary Stampede. This year was my first Stampede, my friends Donna Wong and Corey Tomsons joined me in an epic one day tour of the Stampede whereupon I discovered the scariest display. Admittedly I have been in a lot scary rides and horror displays, but the tent showing the effects of Mad Cow disease and the lone bison in a cage wearing a cowboy hat made me want to cringe and run away... so very far away.
However, the Stampede was fun, not only because of the happy fun-loving nature of the event, but also because we were there with our friends Craig Welsh and Cathy Meades from Newfoundland. (Craig had just asked me to be his best man!!).
In Edmonton, my personal favourite festival is the Heritage Festival. Generally speaking everyone calls it Meat-On-A-Stick Day. Being vegetarian these days meant a slight change of pace for me. Heritage Festival features tents from all around the world serving delectable delights for every diners discerning diets. For the first time in three festivals I actually took some pictures.
