A Different Kind Of Parade.

Yee Haw
Or maybe it is Yahoo! I am never sure which one to use. That is not to say that I go around yelling the Calgary Stampede rallying cry very much; well maybe never. Folks it is Stampede and unlike most Calgarians, I have not found my “cowboy hat, plaid shirt, and denim” spirit.
The closest I come to this, is the Stampede parade. That is part of what living in my downtown condo calls a perk. Yes the parade marches down my street and turns south. If I miss it through the north window then I can catch it out my west window. It is an interesting viewpoint from the eleventh floor balcony. The horses and steers may look small, but they can still give off a real authentic smell of days long ago.
I was quite surprised when on the eve of the parade I saw people along the parade route chaining their lawn chairs to a tree claiming there front row shaded spots for the parade. I finally realized why people buy old lawn chairs at garage sales, so they can chain them to a tree downtown on the eve of the parade.
It was eleven pm. There was much activity on the sidewalks below our condo. I watched one couple as they looked for their spot on the parade route. First they sauntered up and down the street carrying their lawn chairs and inspecting every square inch of the available sidewalk. They found a tree across the street and set up the lawn chairs besides it. They sat down and I guess tried out the view. After a few moments I witnessed some kind of discussion and suddenly the woman got up and took her lawn chair across the street as the man just sat in his. He looked way too comfortable to move. She found another tree and set her chair up. I watched with amusement as the two of them stared at each other across the street in some kind of win or lose battle. He finally followed. This time they sat on either side of the tree; that poor tree. A few minutes passed while they sized up their view. Next thing I noticed was the woman taking her chair to the next tree over. Having lost that game once before, he followed without pause. Once again they sat in their lawn chairs on either side of the tree. They sat and they sat. I believe they visualized in their mind’s eye the parade as it passed by their prime spot. It must have passed inspection as the chain came out and the lawn chairs were tied to the tree.
This piece of real estate was there’s.
All along Tenth Street there were similar chairs tied together or chained to a tree. Some boldly labeled the chairs and others well it was just there’s. The land claim was a done deal simply by placing the lawn chair in situ. There was this little urchin inside of me that wanted to go down in the middle of the night and rearrange their chairs, but that would not have been neighbourly of me.
I watched the next morning as the people claimed there special spots and I wondered if there was this much order to claiming land when Alberta first came to be claimed. There were no fights, no finder’s keepers, and no hassles at all. It did not matter if they came much later than those who sat passively behind these empty chairs. I was looking for that gun fighting, rope twirling, steer wrestling attitude to show up. Alas, there was only an orderly, polite take over the land.
I must surmise then that Calgarians are not the country bumpkins that some folk may see us as. We are just another group of polite Canadians whose cowboys are not too tough to wear pink.
Happy Stampeding
WKH