It’s everyone’s favourite time of year again - whether they know it or not.

It’s not often you can wear jeans to work, take a Friday off for a  parade – and no, not that kind of parade -  or get a free breakfast every single morning for 10 days straight, but the Calgary Stampede will unite Calgarians this year more than ever.

And who doesn’t want to take a break after the devastation the city went through, let their hair down and have a good time for a few days or 10? Calgary Stampede, now in its 101st year, promises to put a little bit of fun back into the city after what was two weeks of challenging days and long nights for a city forced to clean up after the devastating 2013 flood.

It’ll be hard to follow up last year’s centennial celebrating especially as the Saddledome has been forced to cancel such big musical acts as Tim McGraw, KISS and the Dixie Chicks, but officials say there are still tonnes of fun to be had.

Calgary Stampede spokesperson Jennifer Booth says this year’s food is delicious and bizarre as usual with 31 different treats to try as well as the old staples like mini donuts and – well, mini donuts.

"It’s definitely a fan favourite to try new food at the park and the vendors really come up with unique and creative treats – it’s actually become a bit of a tradition," Booth says.  "I think the vendors have a lot of fun coming up with new things to try."

Topping the list of too-weird-to-be-true foods, menu items include the double bacon corndog, deep fried butter, deep fried Doritos, deep friend bubble gum, chocolate covered bacon, chocolate bacon fudge, pickle shooters and double smoke bacon wrapped with cheese perogie skewer – just to name a few.

"We know they’re not necessarily the best for us but it’s everything within reason at the Stampede and it’s kind of cool to say you tried it," Booth says. "I’m not sure if too many people are concerned about their waistline when it comes to the Stampede."

Meanwhile, Stampede officials says hours and hours of work around the clock has gone into making the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth the best yet, despite the damage.

Calgary Stampede vice-president of park development Warren Connell says he has been involved with the organization for 30 years and was shocked at the damage.  He told us, in 1974 it took four months to build the infield rodeo track but, the Calgary Stampede made it happen this year in just 10 days.

At its peak, there were over 800 people working to fix the Calgary Stampede chuck wagon infield track from significant damage suffered during June’s flood that saw floodwaters crest upwards of 14 feet deep. Literally millions of gallons of water had to be pumped out, taking two days, and then the track needed to be rebuilt from the bottom up, with the dirt getting completely replaced.  Stampede officials say the track is better than ever now.

"Thirty thousand yards of material were taken off of Stampede Park to another site to dry out and be tested before it was reclaimed and 30,000 yards of materials were brought onto Stampede Park."

There were some early reports that some participants were worried about track safety but Calgary Stampede vice-president of programming Paul Rosenberg says safety is paramount and everything surpasses standards.

"We’ve taken a look at the bucking chutes, all the steel, all the runways, made sure it’s all safe and it is," Rosenberg says. "We’ve disinfected and we’ve put new dirt down so from an animal safety and care perspective, we’re in terrific shape."

The popular Calgary Stampede Grandstand show will also go ahead as planned and the sound system is ready to go, officials add.

Lastly, we can’t talk about the Stampede without mentioning the musical acts. For the price of admission you can take in shows on the Coca-Cola stage, including Hedley, Serena Rider and Dragonette, to name a few. But there is so much more, not even considering the Nashville North stage where you’re sure to see lots of hot guys in tight jeans and sexy ladies in boots.

Officials say Calgarians and visitors will have a great experience at this year’s rodeo, chuck wagon race and Grandstand Show despite the flood.