The Calgary Stampede takes place every JulyChris Bolin
It's called Firewater Friday, and it is the ultimate Stampede networking scene - a massive party held by investment banker Peters & Co. on former brewery grounds in Inglewood in East Calgary.
You can find anyone here - from Tory provincial leadership candidates, to charity officials, New York lawyers, and oil company entrepreneurs waiting for their first big deal. It reflects the wide footprint on this city and province from Peters & Co., and its ubiquitous chairman Mike Tims - a quiet giant in everything from philanthropy to art collecting.
You'll even find Canadian champions at the Peters party - and on this blustery night in Calgary, it was not hockey players or Olympians who stood out. It was David Smith and Doran Flock, a couple of older, kind of retired guys who in late May captured the Canadian Open Pairs title at the national bridge championships in Regina.
Their victory is reassuring for those who are slipping not so gently into their 60s and beyond. Mr. Smith from Edmonton and Mr. Flock from Calgary failed to qualify for the seniors' championships, so the two had to compete in the open ranks against younger folks, with supposedly sharper faculties. And they won.
Mr. Flock says he has played bridge almost all his life, but has cut back the number of games in recent years. But when he's sitting at the table, the old instincts come back. It must be what hockey player Mark Recchi and pitcher Tim Wakefield have felt as they compete at top level into their 40s.
It is also a metaphor for what goes on in the oilpatch - there are always young phenoms capturing the quick headlines, but the richest rewards are for people who can go the distance.