Taffy the horse walks through Calgary hotel in decades-old Grey Cup tradition

CALGARY — Taffy the horse walked to the tune of screaming bagpipes through a tight Calgary hotel lobby.

It was recreating a decades-old CFL championship tradition ahead of the Grey Cup game between the Edmonton Elks and Montreal Alouettes on Sunday.

A horse given the name and title of Tuffy has ridden through a hotel in the host city of the championship annually since 1948, the year a Stampeders fan rode a horse into the lobby of a fancy Toronto hotel.

Taffy, a brown-freckled and white horse, took on that mantle as he sauntered to the check-in counter at the Homewood Suites in Calgary and then to the bar to slop up a bowl of Guinness beer.

Taffy — filling the role of Tuffy — is a 12-year-old cast horse who has braved simulated danger, which helped him keep calm surrounded by loud sounds and music.

Picture-hungry fans also took photos of and with the horse, some dressed in football team jerseys.

“Who sees a horse in a hotel, right?” said Lisa McKay, a Calgary Stampeders fan, at the downtown hotel on Thursday.

“I’ve done a couple Grey Cup festivals before, but never saw the horse, so super excited to check that one off on the bucket list.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2026.

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press