Chickwagon! Online Extras
The Chickwagon! Foundation for Women celebrates a decade of memories
by Stephanie Sparks
Founders Arlene Flock, Lynda Hay and Rita Egizii regale look back on the last 10 years of a Calgary Stampede icon and share their most memorable stories.
LISTEN
Arlene Flock, president, Flagworks Inc.
Chickwagon founder
Lynda Hay, investment advisor, TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice
Chickwagon founder
READ
Rita Egizii, acting director, development and alumni relations, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. Chickwagon founding member, founding president and first executive director
Although she was unable to provide an audio account of her experiences with Chickwagon, founding member, founding president and first executive director Rita Egizii participated via email, providing the following passage:
“Chickwagon is not about one story. It is about a kaleidoscope of stories that all run together with a common theme – camaraderie.
“Was it watching my ‘Chick-Mate’ standing in the rain on the tarmac, loaded down with 150 purses, as all the women-dressed in pink dropped everything they had and screamed their chuckwagon driver to the finish line? Perhaps. Or was it the year Jerry Bremner won 7 out of 10 races and we thought ‘wow – we may actually be going up on that stage to be with him when he’s presented with that big cheque.’
“Was it helping wash down the sweaty overexcited horses after a race or riding the Midway with some of the ‘barn rats’ (as chuckwagon offspring are called by those close to them)? Was it trying not to faint from heat exhaustion in 28 C weather wearing a fleece velour chicken suit along the Stampede Parade route as hundreds of beaming faces shouted back at me, ‘Go Chicks Go’?
“Was it crying when Chickwagon was mentioned as a significant life experience during the eulogy of a member who passed away suddenly and tragically of childbirth at just 30 years old? Was it the tears of disbelief from a young girl at the YWCA’s Safe Haven, who had never had anyone provide her with anything at all, let alone an entire new bedroom, complete with fluffy pink pillows and all the lovely things she had always seen in magazines that were always ‘for someone else’?
“Perhaps it was that one night behind the barns, after the races were over, the crowds had gone, the smoke from the fireworks had cleared and the horses were quiet and settled. That was the time a few of us Chicks would just hang out and share stories about family, politics, ranching and big business in the heart of the New West with chuckwagon drivers, rodeo cowboys, ranch hands and their families.
“My most memorable experience could have been any one of these, but I believe it was all of these. The Chickwagon experience made an indelible mark on my life in more ways than I can ever count. I learned humility, humbleness, generosity, compassion and the love for a sport that thrives in the blood of all chuckwagon families. I feel honoured that I was able to get just a tiny glimpse of that special world. Thankful for the friends met and relationships grown. Proud of the community work done and legacy left behind.
“Not bad at all for 10 years and the efforts of over 500 women.”
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