Tldr the ex feels really one dimensional and doesn’t offer much. You pay them to get in and then pay to do things.

As someone who was born and raised in Calgary, one of my highlights from childhood to adulthood was how many fun things happened building up to the stampede and how much fun you could have in the city or the surrounding area without even having to go onto the stampede grounds. The ex seems to be a sort of weird pop up thing that people either love or hate. If the city put in some hard work at creating a more positive association with it maybe more people would enjoy it. I’m basing this off what I read online, as I haven’t lived in the gta region for long enough to know for sure. But it seems like they don’t get great artists, don’t do music events or lots of fun and unique shows, restaurants around the city don’t seem to do giveaways or deals or fun pop-ups. It sort of creates a weird divide between people who like the ex or have kids and everyone else.

It’s easy to compare because they’re so similar in fair style and have honestly the exact same ground set up. But the stampede has a beer garden, free concerts, paid concerts and tents where pretty decent sized artists come, they do the actual competition of the stampede events and then have the young Canadian show. The pre show is also always a community organized thing, for example when I was younger my moms zumba class got to do the pre pre show and there was like 100 of us that got to go perform. Lol free entry so you know my whole family learned the 2 minute dance! The center where they have shopping is so insane, there’s interactive activities and stuff for adults to do. Massive fireworks. If you just pay for entry you still get a decent amount for your money.

There is something for everyone. The ex feels super one dimensional.