'Let's go, cowgirls!': Country icon Shania Twain leads Stampede parade
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'It's been a dream of mine for a very long time,' said Twain, this year's parade marshal who will also perform at the Saddledome on Saturday night.
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'I get to take full advantage of the Stampede, enjoy the whole spirit of the Stampede, and this historic event that people come from all over the world to attend.'
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'I'm going to be riding a horse in the parade — this makes me very happy,' she said.
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'Personally, I am just a very basic, simple rider,' she said. 'I won't be doing any trick riding or barrel racing while I'm here, although that would have been wonderful.'
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'I'll have a smile stuck to my face the whole time.'
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She called being in Calgary for the Stampede 'very special.'
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'This is the community that lives my dream every day, being so close to horses,' she said. 'This is something that I admire and envy.'
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'Following in the bootsteps of the parade marshals who have gone before you, you will spread fun — I'm sure you will — western spirit, which you have, and plenty of 'Yahoos' for one and all along the road,' said Blair Barkley, chair of the Stampede parade committee.
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Many of the parade's floats and bands honoured Twain's presence by playing her music — including the Stampede Showband, which started the parade off with a medley of her greatest hits.
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Calgary police estimate that 330,000 spectators flocked to downtown Calgary to watch the parade, which is the second largest in North America.
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It featured more than 100 entries, including 35 floats, nine marching bands, representatives of the Treaty 7 First Nations and more than 700 horses. Politicians including Danielle Smith, Pierre Poilievre and Jyoti Gondek smiled and waved at onlookers as they went by — some on horseback and others in wagons.
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