The final weekend begins at the Calgary Stampede, and it looks like a beautiful three days to enjoy action down at the grounds.
Thursday got a nice attendance bump, nudging it closer to last year’s tally, with 114,852 people popping down to Stampede Park. That pushed the overall attendance so far in 2026 over a million (1,006,514).
We’ll hit the track to start, with three top rigs at the Rangeland Derby pulling away, and a newcomer jumping into fourth place. Jamie Laboucane (Panorama Advisory Group) once again posted the fastest time Thursday, with a 1:10.18, nearly a full second ahead of Jason Glass (Birchcliff Energy) (1:11.02), and Chanse Vigen (VisitLethbridge.com)(1:11.03).
Laboucane stayed atop the leaderboard going into the weekend, with Chanse Vigen second, Glass third and Logan Gorst jumping into the top four, a second-and-a-half from joining the top three.
In the Enmax relay races, the Chief Lapotac team clocked the fastest time so far in the event, a 3:02.88. In It 2 Win It finished fifth but has had a strong enough showing throughout the week that they stayed atop the Pool A standings.
In the GMC Stadium infield on Thursday, the 2024 bull riding world champion Josh Frost (Randlett, Utah) showed his stuff, hanging on for a score on 90 aboard Blood Creek.
“Great bull, great ride,” Frost said afterwards.
“I didn’t know a lot about that bull coming in. I was able to find one video of him, and he looked a little softer than what he was.”
In bareback, Luke Thrash from Stephenville, Texas, locked up day money with an 86-point ride aboard Cracker Jack. Two cowboys, Ryder Wright from Beaver, Utah, and Kade Bruno from Challis, Idaho, took their rides to a score of 88.5 to split the day money in saddlebronc.
Louisiana cowboys grabbed the top three spots in tie down roping Thursday, with Macon Murphy of Keatchie, Louisiana and Zach Jongbloed from Iowa, Louisiana, finishing tied for first with a seven-second run, and Shane Hanchey from Sulphur, Louisiana, getting third with 7.8
Riley Duvall from Checotah, Oklahoma, got the top day money in steer wrestling, with a time of 4.2.
Kassie Mowry from Dublin, Texas, was lightning fast in ladies barrel racing, logging a 16.68 to lock up top spot. The top four spots all finished under 17 seconds on Thursday.
In breakaway roping, Hali Williams from Comanche, Texas, was more than a second faster than her second-place competitor, clocking a time of 2.4 seconds to win the day money.
Rodeo competitors will be locked in to try and capture that chance at the big payout come Sunday.
Meanwhile, around the grounds on Friday is the Stampede Stand-Up, a two-night stand-up comedy show with Just for Laughs comedians.
Forty new Canadians will be going through a Citizenship Ceremony on Friday, including the Calgary Stampede’s Chief Executive Officer, Joel Cowley.
At Nashville North, we have the James Barker Band (10:15 p.m.), the Coca-Cola Stage brings in the aptly named Fridayy (9 p.m.) and the Big Four Roadhouse has the uber talented William Prince.
If you haven’t had your Calgary Stampede fill this year, it’s your final three days to grab mini donuts, a corndog, catch the rodeo or chucks, hit some rides and watch one of the agriculture events.
