8 Young Canadians from Okotoks are ready for a busy 10 days, as they will be performing at the TransAlta Grandstand Show during the 2017 Calgary Stampede.

Chloe Lofvendahl, Shelly Murray, Brooke Ashbaugh, Sydney LeMaistre, Isis MacDonald, Hailey Murray, Jack Leathwaite and Georgia Pugh are at the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth from July 7 to 16 entertaining hundreds of spectators.

All but two of these young performers are members the The Young Canadians School of the Performing Arts which is a Calgary Stampede Youth program that they each audition for every year. They train with the school from September to April, they then get casted for the Grandstand Show, and rehearse from May to July.

Murray and Leathwaite are juniors, and the juniors are not a part of the Performing Arts School, but still participate in the Grandstand.

Syndey LeMaistre's mother, Dawn LeMaistre, says the performers have had a rigorous rehearsal process for the Granstand Show.

"They get casted for the Grandstand show in May, and at that point they add the juniors to it, so they've been rehearsing since the first week in May until now," she explains. "Traditionally the intermediates and the seniors have been four days a week, and the juniors two, up until the last month. Throughout June they've pretty much been there 6 days of week, and for the last two weeks they've been there ten to twelve hours a day rehearsing."

She shares the eight Okotokians are exhausted after rehearsals but are ready, and very excited to perform.

"It's a lot of work, they're super tired, the last four days they've been rehearsing from two in the afternoon and they're not home until one in the morning, but once the show hits they just run on adrenaline."

LeMaistre adds the locals will perform eleven nights in a row, starting yesterday at Sneak A Peak.

"They hit the stage at 9:55 p.m. and its about an hour and a half long performance, and it ends with the evening fireworks each evening for Stampede."

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