Shine OnCowboys, beware: There’s a divorce spike after every Calgary Stampede
Surprising fact about Western Canada's biggest party: if you're a divorce lawyer, the Calgary Stampede is good for business.
"We know that marriages begin and marriages end at Stampede," Karen Stewart, founder of Fairway Divorce Solutions tells the Calgary Herald. "That's sort of been a cliché for the last 30 years. That trend continues."
"Stampede is a family affair and it's a great place. But it's also a place that can bring things to a head to what may have been moving in that direction in the first place."
Since her business opened in 2006, Stewart's "mediation alternative dispute resolution company" has seen a spike in business following the Stampede every year.
Relative to her company's offices in other Canadian cities in the weeks following the Stampede, the number of calls in Calgary is up to 50 per cent higher.
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Stewart hypothesizes why:
"[The Stampede is] a bit of a vacation. Lots of alcohol consumption. Sometimes spouses are out without each other. For people who are in a place of vulnerability going into Stampede, this can be a time where it can break the camel’s back. For couples that are happy and healthy and have great relationships, it’s the opposite. It’s an actual bond builder. Just like holidays are," she tells the Calgary Herald.
"For relationships that are vulnerable, it's putting gasoline on fire," Stewart told the National Post in 2012.
In 2009, she told Sun Media that infidelity was a major factor in the divorce filings.
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Elsbeth Mehrer, director of external relations for the YWCA of Calgary writes that the Calgary Stampede is a breeding ground for sexism:
"While the official Calgary Stampede brand asserts hospitality, integrity, pride of place and community; away from the parade and the exhibition on the grounds, the broader ethos celebrates a non-stop, hedonistic, liquor-fuelled party for temporary cowgals and boys. This projection of a consequence-free time during which boundaries and inhibitions melt on hot asphalt has larger implications for individuals, our culture and our city's reputation," Mehrer writes in the Huffington Post.
"Reports of brisk business at divorce lawyer's offices and STI clinics are legend in the weeks following Stampede," she continues. "There's even mythology about wedding band checks (similar to a coat check). And, this year, with changes to the Alberta liquor regulations, accessing a drink at breakfast time will be easier than ever before."
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Other spikes in divorce have been linked to the New Year — New Year's resolutions to start fresh? — and the increased use of Facebook.
Married folks, how do you divorce-proof your marriages (without just avoiding a day at the rodeo)?
