Odds are, if you have been in Calgary for a bit of a time, you have met Ms. GayCalgary, Janie Van Santen. As current rodeo director for the Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA), Van Santen has been a staple in the Calgary community.

ARGRA began in 1993 as a small rodeo event without the animals. Similar to the first Calgary Pride, it was met with protests and a lot of controversy. Twenty-two years later it is promising to be the biggest rodeo yet, and Van Santen has been part of it from the beginning.

"I was an avid spectator for the first couple of years, then started working security, and then became a member of the board in 2006," she says.

Van Santen moved to Calgary in 1985 from her home in Winnipeg. In 2008, Van Santen retired (at a young and vibrant age) from a career as a human resource manager for an oil and gas company, and is now working part-time on a project in Fort Saskatchewan in the same field. She is also spending much deserved time with her four horses and travelling the rodeo circuit with her partner of 30 years, Dale.

If you have the chance to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, take a close look. You will perhaps spot Van Santen in a picture of the first Women’s National Hockey Team.