Dress up for big boys: Cowboy culture of the urban rodeo

Billed as The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the Calgary Stampede is one of the West’s most celebrated events with visitors, from near and far, partaking and reveling in Southern Alberta’s Western heritage. This event is a celebration of Alberta’s western past and, as such, the Stampede has continually encouraged its attendees to dress up in Western (cowboy) attire in order to (re)capture the Western spirit. The cowboy has unremittingly been held up as an exceptional model of hegemonic masculinity, which, in turn, is celebrated and reinforced each year during the Stampede’s live action performances. A study was then conducted on this form of masculinity by interviewing local males who use the attire to construct a short-term dominant masculine identity for the ten days in direct contrast to their daily normal lives.