Legacy Stampede Breakfast returns 7 years after Hays family retired it
The invitation-only breakfast ran for 69 years starting in 1950. The inaugural Legacy event carries forward traditions including the ceremonial Syllabub concoction.
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Seven years after the final Hays breakfast was hosted during the 2019 Stampede, a new iteration of Calgary's most prestigious, invite-only pancake breakfast is returning this summer.
The inaugural Legacy Stampede Breakfast will carry forward many of the beloved traditions of the Hays breakfast, which was started by former mayor and senator Harry Hays in 1950 and ran for nearly seven decades before the Hays family decided to call it quits.
Ruth Peters, whose family co-hosted the Hays breakfast for many years, said that while everyone understood the Hays family's decision, there was "a lot of sadness" around it. The breakfast was greatly missed by many who had attended over the years.
"It was, for 69 years, the Stampede event that everybody wanted to be at. If you had an invitation to be able to attend, you felt blessed to be able to be there," said Catherine Brownlee, event volunteer and president of CBI Business Solutions.
The breakfast brought together politicians, executives, and community and business leaders from across all sectors. Peters said she can't quite explain why the breakfast was so special to so many. "It was such a phenomenon," she said. "Everyone looked forward to it for the whole year. It was a very unique event — the location, the number of people, the reasons for having it, the community that came around it, and the volunteers."
Many beloved traditions will be carried forward at the Legacy breakfast, including the ceremonial milking of a cow for a mystery concoction the Hays family dubbed "Syllabub." It'll be brought back under a new name, but with all the usual pomp and circumstance — including the ceremonial cow being brought in by bagpipers. "The cow would be milked, and they've got this big cauldron," Brownlee said. "They would pour in Tide and bleach and motor oil and vodka and tequila . . . and of course it was all fake."
Many of the same guests will be invited to this year's breakfast, but Brownlee said many new faces are expected as well. Premier Danielle Smith has already confirmed her attendance. Prime Minister Mark Carney has been officially invited.
Rotarians will help serve pancakes, and the breakfast will feature live music and performances by the Rosebud Theatre. Like the Hays breakfast, the proceeds will raise funds to support Heritage Park.