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<\/p>\n\u201cYou\u2019re always dodging around the poop when you walk, specifically depending where you are in the parade,\u201d guide Emma Greig said in an interview. <\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re the people (walking) before the horses you don\u2019t have to dodge anything, but if you\u2019re after the horses you\u2019re dodging,\u201d the 16-year-old added with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Guide Ayla Loewen-McKnight, 17, said it\u2019s fun but taxing. \u201cIt\u2019s actually smiling at people for so long and keeping that nice smile, waving and picking the people you actually wave at. As soon as it\u2019s done it\u2019s, \u2018Oh wait, my feet actually hurt.’\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s parade goes Friday. Loewen-McKnight and Greig are now route veterans, each participating in their third walk.<\/p>\n
On that day, about 40 Girl Guides arrive on the parade route at 6:30 a.m. and spend more than two hours on their feet.<\/p>\n
The Guides have been doing it for 80 years, helping showcase award-winning entries in the parade by carrying banners along the route.<\/p>\n
Usually the reward is water, potato chips and a Stampede gate pass.<\/p>\n
Starting this year it\u2019s an official blue Calgary Stampede Parade volunteer crest, with the three leaf-trefoil in white, which is the official, globally recognized symbol of Guiding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was really cool. It\u2019s a nice thing to get after that long walk,\u201d Greig said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times people are more looking at what\u2019s going on behind you because it\u2019s probably a little more interesting, but you still feel people looking at you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The badge is the brainchild of Christina Smith, a longtime Stampede Parade volunteer and one-time Girl Scout herself. She competed in Olympic bobsled at the 2002 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
Smith said it\u2019s about tangible rewards that fire the imagination and rekindle lost memories.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an Olympian, I feel that my participation medal was the thing I can look back on and really cherish,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are things that plant seeds within the younger generation to potentially give them something to aspire to and volunteer further.\u201d <\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cYou\u2019re always dodging around the poop when you walk, specifically depending where you are in the parade,\u201d guide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":["post-773100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}