Giddy up and get your cowboy hats on because the third of Panorama’s themed festivals, Panorama’s Mountain Stampede hits this weekend.

Starting on Friday March 16, all valley residents are encouraged to come up and get a taste of the stampede life with a large range of activities for the entire family.

Friday night kicks off with the usual free tobogganing from 4:30 to 9 p.m., and on Saturday morning members of the Calgary Stampede Volunteer Committee will be greeting guests and festival-goers, to help get them into the cowboy spirit.

“We’re so close to Alberta, and a lot of our guests are from Alberta, and being Western Canadians we’re all tuned into that stampede and cowboy heritage,” Panorama marketing co-ordinator Brandi Schier said.

“Stampede is something we usually associate with summer, but now we get to bring it into this winter atmosphere, and we get to have the best of both worlds.”

In a departure from previous festivals there will be no torchlight parade this time out, however the usual mix of live music from the band L8 and food on the Great Hall deck return, from noon until about 2 p.m.

This of course goes along with the family-oriented carnival games all over the base area, and as the day goes on the party moves into the Great Hall with cowboy crafts, stampede inspired food stations and more great live music. Finally, on Sunday morning, there will be a stampede pancake breakfast before more carnival games and activities wrap up the weekend.

“I think the festivals have been amazing, and we’ve had a really good response from guests and from locals,” Schier said. “As always, we’re really encouraging everyone in the valley to come up and have some fun.”

For more information and a full schedule of events, visit panoramaresort.com.