The near century-old Calgary Stampede got underway Friday as thousands of onlookers took in fireworks and a parade led by a pair of reality-show cowboys.
Cord and Jet McCoy, two former contestants in the American reality TV show "The Amazing Race" acted as parade marshals for the event, which wound its way through downtown Calgary.
"Awesome. What a crowd and how welcoming it is," Cord McCoy said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper donned a cowboy hat to launch the parade -- which attracted a crowd of 350,000 -- by setting off a cascade of fireworks in the sky.
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and a number of military commanders were also in attendance.
One elderly woman in the crowd, Myrna Simpson, said she had attended the event since she was three weeks old.
"This is the 68th year," she said.
Since it was founded in 1912, the Stampede has grown to attract roughly 1.2 million attendees annually. Billed as the "greatest outdoor show on earth," it features a series of concerts, midway rides and rodeo competitions with roughly $2 million in prize money.
Organizers are hoping 2010 will be the Stampede's most successful year yet as sunny weather moves into the region.
"We anticipate that our attendance will be up where it has been in the past, up around the 1.2 million mark," said Doug Fraser, a spokesperson for the Stampede. "With the weather, we could break a record."
Controversy persists
Meanwhile, a small group of protesters also made an appearance Friday afternoon, a reminder of the debate over the ethics of calf-roping that has caught headlines in recent days.
Both the Vancouver Humane Society and the Surrey, England-based League Against Cruel Sports have taken a hard-line against the sport of calf-roping.
"It's an event that exposes a young calf, three to four months old, to pain, fear, and distress, and also puts that animal at risk of injury or death," Peter Fricker of the Vancouver human society told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.
Fricker says that the public agrees with him.
"We've detected for many years a lot of public distaste for calf roping, even among rodeo fans," he adds. "We've noticed that when the rodeo crowd is watching that event and calf hits the end of that rope, there is often a collective gasp, people just don't like it."
However, the president of the Calgary Stampede could not disagree more.
"There are extremes in every population and you can't please everyone (but) I can tell you that our rodeo fans here and around the world fill the stands," David Chalack said Friday morning.
A veterinarian by trade, Chalack says the animals "are not hurt" and says the Stampede works with the Calgary Humane Society to improve the sport and animal safety.
He added that there are some 2,000 rodeos a year in North America -- most of which boast a calf-roping event -- and said cowboys have to track down calves on the ranch in the same manner as the sport.
The League Against Cruel Sports issued a statement Wednesday calling on Ottawa to "take steps to end the immense cruelty to animals in events such as calf-roping, which is practised at rodeos including the Calgary Stampede."
The group is largely responsible for the banning of fox hunting in the United Kingdom. It says it has the support of 50 MPs who have called on the Canadian government to improve how animals are treated at the Stampede.
Going against recent tradition, the Calgary Herald recently ran a full-page criticizing calf-roping paid for by the Vancouver Humane Society.
With a report from CTV's Janet Dirks and files from The Canadian Press
