The Calgary Stampede is the only place in the world where you’ll catch business leaders flipping pancakes in the morning and chasing deals into the evening.
Driving the news: With the world’s largest rodeo officially underway, dealmakers — and lawmakers — have put on their finest Canadian tuxedos to talk shop in corporate suites, host parties, and throw millions of dollars at sponsoring old-fashioned chuckwagon races.
- Concorde Entertainment, which hosts company-sponsored events at the stampede, says it has serviced a record number of corporate bookings at this year’s festival.
- This year’s chuckwagon tarp auction, where companies bid on wagon sponsorships, hit a record $3.8 million, which to us feels like the opposite of a recession indicator.
Why it matters: The stampede is still a party, but it’s also become one of the country’s top networking and deal-making opportunities. Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek spoke about her own jam-packed schedule this week and called the festival “the best time to get deals done.”
- “The informality of the occasion lends itself to frank conversations” and makes a difference when you go to grab a beer, one executive told the Globe and Mail.
Zoom out: The annual corporate pilgrimage to stampede helps the local economy, too. Last year, the city saw a $280 million boon from the festival. MasterCard also reported a 158% surge in dining spending alone that year, compared to a week without the festival.—LA