Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Millennium 11 - Calgary Stampede

[This post is another in a series  profiling each of the 68 stamps issued by Canada Post Corporation on September 15, 1999 on the occasion of the new Millennium. Links to previously published posts are listed at the bottom of this page.]

  Calgary Stampede Chuckwagon Race

The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held in Calgary every July attracting over one million visitors each year. Billed as "The Greatest Show on Earth", the Stampede features one of the world's largest rodeos.

The first Stampede was created in 1912 by American Wild West performer Gary Weadick who convinced wealthy cattlemen to finance the event. Weadick invited the best North American competitors to the rodeo who were awarded cash and gold-plated prize buckles.

Guy Weadick, founder of the Calgary Stampede [ Guy Weadick Biography]

In 1923, the the Stampede and the Calgary Industrial Exhibition merged to become a single event, the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, an annual event which has been a success ever since, attracting visitors from around the world.

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, 1969

Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge , 2011

Calgary Exhibition/Stampede Post Office

A temporary post office open for the duration of the Exhibition and Stampede applied a distinctive Exhibition/Stampede postmark as well as a cachet to mail handled at the facility. Here are a few examples of postmarks and cachets in use from the 1940s to the 1970s:

1937


 
 Exhibition Post Office
Calgary Alberta


1942




1946



1950



1956



1964




1969


 Stampede Post Office
Calgary Alta


1972



1973




 Calgary Stampede Centennial 2012

On May 17, 2012, Canada Post Corporation issued a set of two stamps to commemorate the centenary of the Calgary Stampede.





The Millennium Stamp

1.  Millennium Collection Album

The Calgary Stampede was one of 68 Millennium stamps first issued in a hardbound book, Canada Post The Millennium Collection : Expressions of a People, on September 15, 1999. The stamps were printed two to a page.



Calgary Stampede and Cirque du Soleil stamps were printed on the same page

2. Millennium Collection Souvenir Sheet

Canada Post Corporation re-issued the Millennium stamps in panes of 4 stamps issued over a three month period from December 17, 1999 to March 17, 2000. The souvenir sheet with the Calgary Stamped stamp was released on December 17, 1999.



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Millennium Stamp Collection

1. WikipediaCanada Post Millennium Stamps
(This site describes the stamps and provides links to article dealing with each subject.)

2. Postal History Corner articles:
4. Tom Longboat
5. Inuit Shaman
6. Healing From Within
7. Hudson's Bay Company 
8. Bell Canada Enterprises
9. Neptune Theatre 
10. Stratford Festival 
11. Calgary Stampede