First Nations Rodeo and Relay brings 494 competitors to Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede is celebrating First Nations cultures and Indigenous rodeo athletes from across North America on Saturday with the inaugural First Nations Rodeo and Relay at GMC Stadium.

The event features eight rodeo competitions and relay racing, drawing 494 entries representing 390 different competitors. Riders are coming from southern Alberta First Nations and as far away as Arizona. The rodeo is a sanctioned Indian National Finals Rodeo event.

Twenty-five relay racing teams will also compete Saturday, with the top two overall teams and the top two Treaty 7 teams advancing to the Stampede's relay competition in July.

"We know that our audience loves rodeo, we know our audience loves relay and we truly enjoy celebrating First Nations cultures along with our partners," Calgary Stampede CEO Joel Cowley said Wednesday. "We're pretty overwhelmed with the interest."

With the strong response, Cowley foresees this becoming an annual Stampede tradition and potentially expanding into a full-day celebration. Between ticket and suite sales, about 5,000 people are expected to attend.

The event comes a year after the Stampede hosted a successful rodeo and relay for the Rotary International Convention, which sparked the idea to pair a relay race qualifier with an Indigenous rodeo.

Infield tickets are already sold out due to ongoing construction limiting seating capacity. Grandstand tickets are available for $30, plus ticketing fees, on the Calgary Stampede website.

Preliminary rodeo competitions take place Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning, narrowing the field to the top 10 competitors for Saturday evening's public performance. Those preliminary competitions are free to watch — people can pay for parking and walk in.

The main event starts at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.