Calgary White Hat

Created by Morris Shumiatcher, owner of Smithbilt Hat Company, it was worn for the first time at the 1946 Stampede.

[5] In the 1940s, the board of the Calgary Stampede decided to encourage the wearing of cowboy hats at the annual rodeo and Shumiatcher sought to meet the demand.

[4][6][7] William Herron, a local rancher and oilman who often won the best costume prize in the Calgary Stampede parade, purchased four of them for himself and his family members, and the rest sold out in a day.

[4][a] In 1948, 250 Calgary Stampeders fans wore their Smithbilt white hats to the 36th Grey Cup championship in Toronto.

[10][11][12] The 1948 Grey Cup event caused the Calgary White Hat to be regarded as a symbol of the city's hospitality.

[13] In 1950, newly elected mayor of Calgary Donald Hugh Mackay, who had been part of the 1948 Grey Cup excursion,[14] initiated the practice of presenting a Smithbilt white hat to every visiting dignitary.

[15][16][17] City Council aldermen increasingly grew uncomfortable with the practice, which they viewed as a show: Alderman P.N.R.

Morrison protested that "The white hats undermine efforts to establish Calgary as an oil and industrial centre", and Alderman Grant MacEwan said, "The presentations have been carried to a foolish extreme".

[11] The mayor's office conducts 15 to 25 white hatting ceremonies per year; among its recipients have been Queen Elizabeth II and William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge;[19] world leaders Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush; the Dalai Lama, Pope John Paul II, and Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean; and entertainers Bob Dylan, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, David Lee Roth, Luciano Pavarotti, Oprah Winfrey, and Mickey Mouse.

In September 2012, for example, 900 attendees to the Airport Council International-North America annual conference participated in a white hatting ceremony in which they also received certificates naming them as honorary citizens of the city.

[26] As part of the white hatting ceremony conducted for tourists and groups, recipients are asked to recite the following oath: "I/we, havin' pleasured ourselves in the only genuine cowtown in Canada, namely Calgary, Alberta and havin' been duly exposed to exceptional amounts of heart warmin', hand shakin', foot stompin', down home, country style Western Spirit, do promise to share this here brand of Western Hospitality with all folks and critters who cross our path".

The one leading the oath adds, "On the count of three, raise your hat and shout a big ole' Calgary 'YAHOO!!!

The winning entry depicts a red field bordered by horizontal white stripes across the top and bottom.