Stavely: Home of Canada's 1st Indoor Rodeo II – Stavely, Alberta
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T0SHEA
N 50° 09.883 W 113° 39.029
12U E 310709 N 5560308
Stavely is located equidistant between Calgary and Lethbridge, just over 100 km south of Calgary on Highway 2 and the same distance north of Lethbridge.
Waymark Code: WMZE3Q
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 10/27/2018
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Stavely is a rural farming community in southern Alberta with about 500 residents. Situated in what residents of Stavely like to think of as Alberta's "Banana Belt", it is an ideal ranching and farming area with rolling prairies to the east and foothills to the west.
The Town's welcome sign is truly indicative of the area's roots. Before there was a town, a large cattle ranch of 100,000 acres was begun in 1882 and by 1885 it had expanded to 300,000 acres. Originally known as the Oxley Ranch, it stretched from the Oldman River in the south to Mosquito Creek in the north and from the foothills of the Rockies in the west to the Little Bow River in the east. Little by little, though, over the years it was broken up into smaller farms and ranches.
Though the wording on the sign commemorates the first indoor rodeo, the artwork depicts a lone cowboy and his horse, resting on a knoll, watching over the herd. At the bottom left corner of the sign is a bundle of wheat, symbolizing the farms that grew out of the original ranch.
It was June 1929 when Harry Streeter put on an indoor rodeo in the Stavely skating rink and Stavely laid claim to the "first indoor rodeo" in North America and maybe the world. Hence the town's motto on their Welcome to Stavely Sign located just on the outskirts of town.
The Canadian Pacific Railway once ran through Stavely. Its closure led to the removal of all but one of Stavely's grain elevators. The town has intentionally ensured its survival for posterity.
