Howdy, pardners! Takahashi-sense- I mean, Sheriff Takahashi here!
As you all know, the Calgary Stampede is a festival and rodeo held here in the Albertan city of Calgary, for one week in July, and has been held since 1912. During the week, Calgarians get to enjoy line dancing, watching bull rides and chuck wagon races, agricultural education, and even free pancakes!
Remember this duo from 2018?
Well, in case you forget everything that happened here last year, Calgary was planning to bid for the right to host the Winter Olympics for 2026(which will go to either Cortina or Stockholm by the end of this month.), and I designed Hick & Hia with the hopeful event in mind, even becoming an ambassador for the bid. Unfortunately, because of controversy surrounding how things work within the IOC, 56 percent of Calgary’s population killed off the prospect that made our city legendary since 1988. On the bright side, the ESPN Winter X Games will be hosted here starting next year, and until 2022.
Not wanting my hard work to go to waste, I am officially looking into making them into the new mascots of the Calgary Stampede! Besides, Olympic mascots are forced into retirement shortly after the games, yet the creators aren’t even paid royalties. I always thought those kinds of characters were meant to serve as legacies for the host cities!
And what better way to celebrate than to make a bunch of coloring and activity sheets for all you little buck-a-roos to let your creativity become a stampede?
Starting today, I’ll be sharing a little one of Hia for National Aboriginal Day, which will be commemorated in 2 days!
C for yourself, Calgary! We can bounce back from this recession!
-Akira Takahashi, June 19th, 2019
AkiTaka/アキタカ 