Over the next month, hundreds of thousands of Calgarians will be taking a walk through one of the Stampede’s most iconic and long-term lottery prizes.
Only one person will be taking home this year’s $1.26 million Rotary Dream Home, but everyone who buys a Stampede Lotteries ticket this year will be a winner said the Stampede.
“Anybody who wins any of our prizes is super lucky. Even though they’re great that they’re winning their prize, it’s the charities in the community who are actually the end winner,” said Richard Agnew, Chair of Stampede Lotteries.
He said that the funds raised by the Stampede Lotteries this year would continue to support the Rotary Club of Calgary at Stampede Park, The Kinsmen Club of Calgary, and the Calgary Marching Show Band Association.
Each year, the Stampede Lotteries raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for their charitable partners, something that Agnew said never surprises him.
“I’m a born and raised Calgarian, and if there’s one thing about Calgary you can count on it’s first of all volunteerism, and secondly giving back to their community. It’s really great,” he said.
The Kinsmen Club of Calgary said that last year, despite the pandemic, they were able to raise around $600,000 for their charities—which was not that far down from their record-breaking year of $750,000 in 2019.
Darryl Robinson, Vice President for the Kinsmen Club of Calgary, said that this year the major charities that would be supported by their organization from the lottery funds would be Kids Cancer Care, Made by Momma, Potential Place, and the Can Learn Society.
“Those are four of the bigger ones. We also do a lot of side projects with small communities—I guess the big thing for us is no project is too small,” he said.
The final deadline to purchase Stampede Lotteries tickets is July 16. Tickets can be purchased at the park, or at calgarystampedelotteries.ca.
Stampede Lotteries Rotary Dream Home is a nostalgic nod to the past
Julie Punter, Show Home Manager for Homes by Avi—the builder for this year’s home—said that the design they chose was a modern heritage design with elements pulled from farmhouses and a food-to-table nod.
“When we decided to do the home in Rangeview 23, we immediately decided that we wanted to adopt some of their concept of garden-to-table,” she said.
“With that, we decided to add the three-season space where you can have that indoor-outdoor living, almost all year round. The other space that we decided to feature was the potting station off of the kitchen. We also have an urban cultivator in there where you can grow herbs and microgreens all year round as well.”
She said that the goal was to provide a heritage feel throughout the home while still having plenty of natural light and a modern layout.
“Modern heritage is kind of a new modern farmhouse design. It’s paying homage to our heritage; within that, the colour palettes, wallpapers, the wall paneling, and all those details and the warmth of hardware,” Punter said.
“People are gravitating back to wanting to feel connected to something and wanting to feel like it belongs to a past. That was what we wanted to commemorate with this home.”
This year’s dream home is 2,537 sq. ft. with three bedrooms, three baths, a bonus room, and a nook office.
Last year’s home was won by Derek Letourneau, after he bought a single ticket at his first-ever Stampede.
Agnew said that wasn’t the first time someone has gotten lucky at the Stampede with their lottery purchase.
“We’d had a lady, a young gal, who won it a few years ago. Her dad bought her one ticket for her birthday, and she won. Those are the kinds of stories which are really neat,” he said.
