The man who built the Calgary Stampede — and the lawsuit that followed

The headline in the Calgary Albertan on March 26, 1935, after the one-day trial between Guy Weadick and the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Company, captured the mood: "Let's get on with it."

Calgary had watched the showman behind the Stampede sue the company behind the institution that he had helped to build. By then, everyone needed to move on.

The Exhibition was the older Calgary institution, dating back to 1886, with agricultural displays, livestock competitions, sporting events and civic boosterism at its core. Guy Weadick, an American-born cowboy, trick roper and vaudeville showman, was the man behind the Stampede and first saw Calgary's potential during the Dominion Exhibition of 1908. Four years later, he helped launch the inaugural Stampede in 1912, which showcased a rodeo, frontier theatre and the public performance of cowboy culture. Weadick returned for the Victory Stampede (the second Stampede) in 1919.

The Exhibition and the Stampede came together in 1923, when E.L. Richardson, the Exhibition manager since 1907, brought Weadick back to organize the Stampede as a feature of the annual exhibition. The addition helped save the Exhibition which, since the end of the First World War, had an average annual operating deficit of $5,000. With the inclusion of the Stampede in 1923, attendance rose by 45,950, and the Exhibition produced an operating surplus of $20,000.

The 1923 combination also gave Calgary more of the Stampede that visitors still recognize today. Weadick managed the Stampede component, oversaw many of the rodeo events, pioneered the chuckwagon races, encouraged Indigenous participation and contributed to transforming the annual celebration into a city-wide event. He also understood the business side of the show. Prize money, he argued, attracted talent from across North America.

By 1932, the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede was a combined institution made up of two cultures: Richardson's Exhibition and Weadick's Stampede. While Richardson and the board were responsible for the whole enterprise, Weadick saw the Stampede as the attraction that made the whole thing work.

That year, the board introduced significant cutbacks to the Stampede in response to the financial challenges of the Great Depression. Weadick was incensed, writing to Richardson in March 1932, "I think that it is generally recognized and conceded, by not only the average citizen of Calgary and Alberta, but by visitors and others, that the Stampede is the attraction that draws the people."

Richardson believed that Weadick's letter displayed an arrogance that was disloyal to the company. According to Richardson, Weadick's behaviour worsened as the 1932 Stampede approached. At the directors' meeting on May 30, 1932, Weadick's expectations for the coming Stampede were negative, a significant switch from his outlook in January. He was offended by the cuts to his Stampede, especially purse money, and did not shy away from voicing his anger.

With attendance at the 1932 Stampede at its lowest since 1925, Weadick felt vindicated. Nevertheless, he remained resentful and repeatedly said the 1932 Stampede would be his last.