Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/80542
This year (2011), the Spirit of Edmonton – an organization that promotes not only the Eskimos, but also Edmonton and Alberta – is staging its Hospitality Room at the Sheraton Wall Centre, eight blocks away from the other team parties. "We believe that we help make the celebration bigger and better for everyone by hosting our event in a different location," says Keating. Partnering with a hotel allows the organization to keep the event cover- charge-free (unlike other teams' gatherings). Which means it's popular. This year, fans have booked around 800 rooms in the Sheraton, and Keating estimates that 5,000 visitors will pass through the party's doors each day. Over the course of the festival, performances by cheer teams, dance troupes and live bands – including Vancouver acts Dr. Strangelove and Side One, plus Moncton outfit Spoiled Rotten – keep the premises packed to capacity. "On Thursday nights we seem to be the meeting place for people from all over the country and fans of every team, and many of them have not seen each dance fl oor, a buffet and a bar, a corporate VIP pavilion and guest appearances by Stam- peders players. But all these attractions are forgotten when Cowtown's iconic horse and rider make a guest appearance. Flashbulbs explode as the big chestnut parades about on the carpet and poses for photos, continuing the tradition that began in 1948, when Cal- gary alderman Don Mackay rode a horse into Two of the infamous Booze Brothers, Grey Cup parade participants since 1983; (below) Calgary's famed horse and rider in downtown Vancouver for the 2011 Grey Cup. years, Riderville was such a hot ticket that people waited for hours to gain entry. This year's shindig, staged in an airplane-hangar- sized hall, has room for everyone. Wearing my complimentary Mardi Gras beads, I watch a gravity-defying performance by the Roughriders Cheer Team, then take cover as the hall is engulfed by the sonic assault of a rock band called Kick Axe. other since the last Grey Cup," says Keating. "It's truly something to witness." Stamps House has the swankest setting of the team parties – the third fl oor of Van- couver Convention Centre West, in a huge, curving room with fl oor-to-ceiling windows that afford a panoramic view of Burrard Inlet. "I personally scouted out this location last year," says Valerie Pek (now former) director of marketing and corporate sponsor- ships for the Calgary Stampeders. "We really wanted to throw a great party for our fans." The celebration features a rock band and a 24 WESTWORLD >> SEPTEMBER 2012 the lobby of Toronto's Royal York Hotel. In Saskatchewan's case, the celebration is not confi ned within four walls. On Friday night, the Roughrider Pep Band takes over a spot on the steps outside the convention centre and launches into a rousing rendition of the Neil Diamond hit "Sweet Caroline." Passersby stop and stare at the green-garbed contingent, a grassroots novelty act in the midst of slick, urban sophistication. As the band wails away in the chilly salt air, inside the convention centre the ever-popular Riderville party is in full swing. In recent One of the liveliest gatherings kicks off not at night, but at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The occasion is Spirit of Edmonton's Grey Cup Breakfast, which has been running since 1975 – an event so eagerly anticipated this year that all 900 tickets were snapped up months ago, prompting organizers to book a second breakfast on Friday, which also sold out. And all this despite a hefty ticket price of $100. By 10 a.m., when a rock band takes the stage at a ballroom in the Wall Centre and starts belting out '80s tunes, we have already witnessed a speech by Alberta Premier Alison Redford, an appearance by Miss Canada and a dizzying series of perfor- mances by CFL cheerleaders, a Polynesian dance troupe, a Scottish pipe band, Ukrai- nian folk dancers and world champion Cree hoop dancer Dallas Arcand. Later that morning, steady rain fails to deter a large throng from attending the Grey Cup Festival Parade and its quirky pro- cession of marching bands, majorettes, bag- pipers, football floats, costumed mascots and local celebrities such as the "B.C. Booze Brothers." Parade participants since 1983, they are dragging an effigy of Winnipeg quarterback Buck Pierce from the bumper of their replica Bluesmobile, a battered, black, '72 Dodge Monaco. (top) Dan Toulguet, Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press