While the Stampeders didn’t make it to the 112th Grey Cup in Winnipeg happening Sunday, there is still plenty of Calgary representation at the game.
The Calgary Grey Cup Committee is in Manitoba’s capital for the showdown between the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Members are there to show everyone the city’s “western hospitality,” including hosting multiple pancake breakfasts.
“Tuffy Nuff,” their horse, is also part of the crew, and galloped into a hotel and made an appearance at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
“I like to say that Calgary — and the Calgary Grey Cup Committee — bring that festival experience and really started it in 1948 and keeps that tradition going,” committee chair Steve Sommerfeld told CityNews.
It started 77 years ago when a group of Stampeders fans travelled to Toronto to cheer on their home team and has journeyed to every Grey Cup since.
Sommerfeld says aside from representing Calgary, the committee is all about building relationships and bonding with people from all across the country.
“Certainly brings that passion, you know?” he said.
“We’ve got folks that are part of the committee, we run into individuals year after year that we only see once a year, sometimes. So those bonds that we have are just priceless.”
Meanwhile, the 2026 Grey Cup will be played in Calgary for the first time since 2019. Ty Demmarsh, a sales associate at McMahan Stadium, says it would be his second time working the event.
“I shouldn’t say slow, but how dumbed down a regular season game is compared to working a Grey Cup, cause there’s so much going on and there’s so many people, cause everybody across Canada comes to the game,” he said.
“It’s just interesting hearing different perspectives from people all across our big, beautiful nation.”
Demmarsh and other Calgarians are excited to welcome Canadians from across the nation for next year’s game.
“It’s pretty exciting for the city. Maybe helps with some economic growth and just helps things out, maybe?” said Jeff Wreschner
Calgarian Blake Rempel says, “It’s great you can get the perspective of people from different parts of the country, you know? People from Sask think differently than people from here.”
The 112th Grey Cup on Sunday is the first match between the two squads since the Alouettes beat the Roughriders back-to-back in 2009 and ’10 by a combined four points.
The match begins at 4 p.m. MT at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg.