Stampede breakfast fans licking their lips in anticipation

One of Calgary's most delicious traditions, the Stampede breakfast, is back.

The free breakfasts hosted by businesses and community organizations are a staple of Stampede season, and Calgary's free food aficionados are licking their lips in anticipation.

"I try to go to as much as possible and they're just so much fun," said Princess Milner, who attended Cornerstone Youth Centre's Stampede breakfast on Tuesday with her son and sister.

There are twists on the traditional pancake breakfasts, like OMO Teppanyaki's green tea pancakes and the Calgary Celiac Association's gluten free breakfast.

There are also breakfasts by the Eritrean, Filipino and Ismaili Muslim communities, which reflect the city's diversity.

Milner says she loves trying the variety of breakfasts available.

"I kind of like to try different things, not just, you know, stuff myself with pancakes and sausages," she said laughing.

Appetite for breakfasts is high

Brayden Woods runs stampedebreakfast.ca, a website that has catalogued the Stampede breakfasts available in the city for the past eight years. According to his site's metrics, there is more interest than ever, he says.

"There's an appetite for it. There's more events than ever before that we've ever seen on the website, and then there's more people than ever before looking at it," he said.

"Something that's blown me away so far is that we're coming up close to 90 events being live on the website. Ninety different pancake breakfasts, and typically pre-COVID It was like 40 to 60 events," he said.

Woods says there are around 30 per cent more visitors to the site this year than during the last pre-pandemic Stampede in 2019, and 180 per cent more than last year's edition.

Breakfasts important for community connection

Cornerstone Youth Centre's executive director Bob McInnis said the organization hosts a breakfast to show youth the importance of being part of their community. He said last year around 160 people attended, and the centre anticipates even more this year.

McInnis says now more than ever these breakfasts are important as they help people connect with one another after being "isolated in [their] own little spaces."

"Living through lockdowns and restrictions in the pandemic, I think that we're starving for human contact," he said.

Woods believes the breakfasts are such a hit because they are unique to Calgary.

"It feels like something that only happens here. So it's like a very Calgary thing [and] if you're not from Calgary, I think you think it's strange. But if you're here,it's not strange. It's part of Stampede. It's part of your community."