This Canadian city has been giving out free pancakes every year since 1923

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IIf you were to walk down Stephen Avenue to Calgary’s Olympic Plaza one morning last week, chances are you’d encounter a clown in a cowboy hat offering you a freshly flipped pancake.

As strange as it may seem, these free breakfasts are actually part of a decades-old tradition in the city in Alberta, Western Canada. Since 1923, during the 10 days of the Calgary Stampede – the world-famous annual rodeo and festival – locals and visitors have embraced good old-fashioned Western hospitality by tucking into pancakes (often called flapjacks in Canada) served on the back of a horse-drawn wagon.

The first pancake breakfasts were held along Eighth Avenue and in a replica of a pioneer cabin called the Old-Timers’ Cabin on the rodeo grounds. Although the Stampede had been held since 1912, it was 11 years later that the Calgary Herald reported how Jack Morton, a rancher associated with the CX Ranch in Rosebud, Alberta, “galloped the CX chuck wagon down Eighth Avenue (and) began the final running of the ‘Morning Stampede’ in a manner Calgary will never forget.”

On July 13, 1923, the newspaper reported: “Just how many municipal ordinances and statutes were violated by the howling, booing, snorting band of cowboys he brought with him will never be known.

“The old cooking stove came out and soon the acrid smell of wood smoke filled the air, followed shortly afterwards by the inviting aroma of sizzling, hot cakes… Spectators jostled to get to the front of the line to bite into the delicious flapjacks being baked by the company’s cook.”

That same year, during a separate breakfast at the Old-Timer’s Cabin, men gathered to grill pancakes and serve them drizzled with maple syrup in a cabin that resembled the early homes of the West, harking back to the pioneers of the previous century. These Old-Timers’ breakfasts were continued by the Southern Alberta Pioneers’ and Old-Timers’ Association, which continues to hold an annual stampede breakfast to this day.

By the 1920s, the breakfast had become an annual tradition, with pancakes grilled at the cabin and in the backs of farm wagons heading into downtown Calgary, often accompanied by sausage, ham and eggs. The breakfast welcomed the public and the press, as well as veterans and cowboys.

With the exception of 2020, when the event was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Stampede has not missed a single year. The event has lived through two world wars and in 2013, a flood devastated the city and submerged much of the event grounds. “No matter what,” the show would go on, became the rallying cry of the Stampede.

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As the self-proclaimed “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth,” the Calgary Stampede rolls into the Canadian city each July in a whirlwind of rodeo, music, art, tradition, and plenty of partying. For 10 days, the Stampede grounds—as well as bars, restaurants, businesses, shops, and city streets—are taken over by cowboy-hatted, booted locals and visitors alike, celebrating Alberta’s western heritage.

Rodeo is the focus, with bull riding, chariot racing, barrel racing, steer wrestling and indigenous relay races held daily at the stadium. The park grounds also feature four music venues, with live acts ranging from rock and pop to hip-hop – though county and western naturally have a big focus.

Since the first Stampede in 1912, visitors have also been able to learn about the culture and traditions of the Kainai, Piikani, Siksika, Stoney Nakoda and Tsuut’ina First Nations. Now called Elbow River Camp, the area features 26 uniquely designed tepees where families demonstrate their traditional way of life. There is also an arena for watching dancing and storytelling, and booths selling jewelry and art, along with bannock (a type of fried bread) and saskatoon berry jam.

In 2024, the event drew its largest crowd to date, with nearly 1.5 million visitors to the Stampede grounds.

The pancake breakfasts are just one of many traditions celebrated during the 10 days; others include shouting “yahoo” instead of the more common cowboy cry “yeehaw”, eating “inventive” foods (past offerings have included mealworm hot dogs, pickle soda and fried bubble gum) and a strong commitment to volunteerism – 3,000 Calgarians donated their time to work at the Stampede this year.

While remaining true to their old western roots, the nature of the pancake breakfast evolved in the 1950s, with businesses, churches and charities also holding their own events. Interestingly enough, politicians did the same, with the events becoming a way to network and entertain.

An integral part of these breakfasts was and is cowboy culture. A 1982 Stampede information packet stated: “If you had spent the night on the prairie with your saddle for a pillow and the stars for a roof, the flapjacks and bacon whipped up by a ‘biscuit’ . . . would be quite warm and filling in your belly.

“Here in Calgary, we don’t really care that most of our guests now sleep in air-conditioned comfort… the flapjacks and bacon still fill a hole in your stomach. And when cooked under the blazing July sun, with a hint of the Rocky Mountain breeze… they’re just as good as they were 75 years ago.”

The core value of free community breakfasts still stands in 2024. Today, hundreds of events are held across the city in public parks, offices, community centers, shopping malls, and churches. One of the most popular is the Ismali Muslim Stampede Breakfast, now in its 27th year, serving pancakes and eggs, along with bharazi (a traditional East African dish of pigeon peas cooked in coconut milk).

Other Stampede Breakfasts feel more like festivals, with live music, drinks, dancing, costumes, face painting and games. Some ask for a charitable donation or a contribution to a food bank, but the principle of free pancakes runs through them all.

Paul Patton, a retired geologist who has volunteered with the Calgary Stampede for the past four years, played drums as part of his band at the breakfast at the Calgary Auto Mall. He said, “It shows Wild West hospitality.

“It’s a tradition that people really enjoy – they always have and they will continue to do so in the future.”

The research used for this article comes from Calagray’s Sam Centre in the report ‘Honest-To-Goodness Pancakes: A History of the Evolution and Cultural Significance of the Stampede Breakfast from 1923-2000’.

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