A Guy from Rochester

Guy Weadik had just made the pitch of his life and heard the words all most hate to hear…No Thanks.  The Yankee cowboy a self confident trick roper and vaudeville act – returned to Calgary in 1912 with what he thought was a great idea.  His dream was a frontier contest on a larger scale, one that would include the best rider and roper from across the continent squaring off for huge prized in front of thousands of spectators.  Guy’s idea was to include the greatest assemble of “plains Indians,” that traders and pioneers had ever scene, not to mention the name of his dream was that of, “The Stampede”.

After laying out his plan to the board of directors of what then was called the Calgary Industrial Exhibition.  It was turned down flat, mainly because the Exhibition at the time was that of a festive and illustrative exhibit of the progress of a boom town on the plains.  It was turned down flat, as the theme at that time was to introduce and illustrate the amount of progress that one of the youngest cities had made.  What happened next would change everything for Weadick and in countless ways for the pioneer city of Calgary.  This is the story of the first Stampede and the wild inproable rit it took from Weadick’s grand vision to wondrous even controversial reality in the summer days of 1912.  It’s also about a remarkable period in Calgary’s history at the time of unbridled optimism, ambition and marvel of a modern industrialization, not yet seen as it was overshadowed by the horrors of the First World War.  To say Calgary was booming during this time would be like comparing a Clydesdale to a fair sized pony.  The city was fueled by an endless supply of big dreams.  The word on everyone’s lips was “progress and boom.”Opening Alberta’s first public library, the unrelenting ongoing building construction or new municipal street car system.  In contrast, three decades earlier Calgary had been more than a prairie outpost of a few ramshackle homes and some tents.  As well, the arrival of the railway changed everything. 

Calgary’s population surged in 1912 with an influx of people by the trainload.  Within one year Calgary's population surpassed 60,000 thousand.  An incredible tenfold increase in less than a decade.  The ranching industry had dominated the influence of the landscape of Calgary.  New homes and building were popping up everywhere yet housing was in short supply.  More than on quarter worked within the construction labor force industry in 1911, with carpenters earning 50 cents per hour.  Indeed, Calgary was a place of frequent excitement, a city where the future seemed as limitless as the giant praries skies.

When Guy Weadick arrived amidst the activities in 1912 it was with hope this prairie hub was ready for his big idea.  The idea was for all his cowboy stylings and country drawl.  Ironically, Guy Weadick was born in Rochester, New York in 1885.  Some ways away from Calgary, Alberta.He was born in 1885 in Rochester, New York and raised on the Irish side of town.  His parents were George Weadick, an American railway worker, and Mary Ann, and Irish- Canadian woman.  Guy was the oldest of a family of five.  As a teenager, Weadick headed west and worked on ranches.  Along the way, he came to learn from cowboys and old timers who’d tell stories of the golden age of the open range.  In 1952, he was within his twenties Weadick began to think that Calgary might be ready for a frontier celebration, on that replaced the fantasy and tricks of the Wild West show with an authentic cowboy skills in a rodeo.  Five years later while Weadick and his wife where touring the music halls of Great Britain and circuses of Europe.  This was the time he received a letter from Calgary.  The letter was an invitation to make another presentation on his stampede idea.  The letter was from Calgary – with the thought that the time was ripe to return to Calgary and place his idea for those whom would be interested in sponsoring it.  The Exhibition had been around for nearly as long as Calgary, the first exhibition took place one year after Calgary was declared a city.  In short a huge event for the west and considered an annual occurrence.  In short it was huge with ideal timing for Weadick. Yet still the board of directors of the Calgary Exhibition could not see where the exhibition would work alongside of his stampede.  It just didn’t seem compatible.

Again Weadick was not about to give up.  Upon a meeting with a few prominent Alberta businessmen - finally things began to make a turn.  Weadick promoted his idea again with an interview with the CBC.  In so many words he pitched his idea, calling the Calgary Stampede and Exhibition would be the largest gathering of cowboys, First nations, and prospectors ever seen.  More importantly it would perpetuation the memory of the region’s pioneers.  After this presentation which was then broadcasted throughout Canada – there was a change of thought within the board of directors of the Exhibition from indifference to enthusiasm.  The two businessmen within Alberta whom had advised Weadick – placed $100,000 behind his idea and the rest became history. 

Guy Weadick of Rochester, New York was achieved his dream which is commonly known as the Calgary Stampede.