Food @ Calgary Stampede - Calgary

The Calgary Stampede celebrated their 101th Anniversary as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. Two weeks prior to this year's Stampede event, the city of Calgary was hit with torrential rains and flooding, but the Calgarians toughed it out and declared that this year's Stampede would go on "Come Hell or High Water".

It was rather dark and gloomy for a while, but there were spots of sunshine throughout the day. 

Unfortunately, the Saddledome was flooded this year and the scheduled events had to be moved to different locations around the Stampede grounds.

Everyone was talking about the deep fried stuff and there had to be around 5-6 Granny's Cheesecake stalls. 

I stopped by the one closest to the Victoria Park Stampede entrance.

 

Deep fried oreos $6

Ouch - food is pricey on the Stampede grounds. 

The chocolate wafers were soft and crumbly and stuffed between them was the melty cream filling. The oreos were covered with a lightly crispy batter outside. The oreos were okay; I'd prefer a Deep Fried Mars Bar with the oozy caramel and chocolate.

Another pricey item: the lemonade! They charged $4 for a cup all over the fair grounds.

Between the Chuckwagon races and the Trans Alta Grandstand show, there was a 1/2 hour break and we took the time to go out and grab some food:

I saw a lot of people with Pulled Pork Parfaits and I knew I had to try one. 

 

Pulled pork parfait with layers of pulled pork, mashed potatoes and gravy $9

This parfait was all kinds of awesome! Totally what you would expect from fair food. The mashed potato was creamy and nice (I probably would have liked more butter to make it taste richer - but that might be overkill) and then there was the layer of salty gravy and shredded pork. Next, another layer of mashed potatoes and finally the bottom layer of slightly spicy pulled pork. 

Overall: Pricey, but all sorts of awesome. The Calgary Stampede was so much fun! I loved the rodeo and all the events (my favourite was the bull-riding and saddle bronc) and the Chuckwagon races & Trans Alta show were pretty fantastic too. 

Website: http://www.calgarystampede.com/