Calgary Stampede's rainy start doesn't bother attendees

The Calgary Stampede has had a bit of a soggy start and there's more rain in the forecast, but it hasn't bothered many on the grounds.

Visitors say they have comeprepared.

"I got two young boys with me... Ifigured I'd get yelled at if I brought them home soaking wet so I thought I'd bring an umbrella." said Jeramy Peterson, who's attending the event from nearbyCochrane.

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He presumes those who had further to travel will also be willing to tough it out.

"A lot of people arefrom out of town and they're not going to sit in a hotel room for the rest of the day, so they might as well come down here, put on a rain jacket and have some fun."

Alex Wall from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia saysthe weather isn't even a factor.

"Where I come from we're used to this type of weather," said Wall.

"I'm just going to come and enjoy it no matter what it's doing. Ifit's snowing, hailing...I'm going to be here."

Good for business

Longtimeride operatorJesse Grant has been coming to the Stampede with this companyThrillmasters for the past 25 years.

So far, he's off to a great start.

"Actually I'm up compared to last year... we'll do alright."

A storm can be a bit more serious.Their protocol is to close down the ride if there islightning within 40 kilometres.

But he said people are determined when they want to go for a ride.

"Obviously ifthe rain is heavy enough, people tend to hide under tents. If I have a line-up when it starts raining people just stick it out and they go for it, the rain doesn't really affect us."

Scooter Korek with North American Midway Entertainment saidthe rain has been a bonus for manyof the games on the midway most are under tents, providingshelter fromthe rain.

"You know our games really do excel during bad weather, that's how it works," said Korek.

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