The Ranchmans Club is Open

The Ranchman’s Club is a Calgary Icon

The Ranchmans Club, also known as the Ranchman’s Cookhouse & Dancehall, has been an icon in the Calgary nightlife scene for decades. Located right on Macleod Trail South, everyone in the city has observed the long lines and huge crowds outside this bar whether you have attended the club or not. After being closed briefly, the Club has reopened and is back to serving food and drinks to thirsty westerners who enjoy the old west atmosphere and country music scene. I will admit that I have spent a few evenings at the bar back in my youth, mostly during Stampede week when the line up outside is hours and hours long but the crowd inside is cowboy crazy and letting lose for more than an entire week. Those times probably can’t be replicated and maybe that’s for the better, lol.

The entrance to the bar is exactly as you will remember it. Old wooden floors, cowboy decor, coat check in the same place, doorman either outside or inside collecting tickets and checking identifications using some fancy computerized ID tracking system that didn’t exist back when I was a rowdy teen. Overall, the place looks just like it did 30 years ago, or as much as my memory allows me to recall it since I haven’t been inside for about 15 years I guess. It is definitely as much a local icon as the Calgary Tower and attracts just as many tourists.

Cowboy bar at its finest

Ranchmans club has served more than a few barrels of whiskey in its day. Since reopening not much has changed on the interior of the place and if you were a previous patron it will all likely look very familiar. The main bar remains at the front right when you walk in, it’s well lit and there are numerous cowgirl clad servers running beverages back and forth to patrons. I think that main bar is actually the coolest feature of this tavern, even though everyone else would say the dancefloor is, and they may not be wrong.

The drink menu at Ranchmans club isn’t fancy but they should have something you can handle. In the day of craft beer and wine bars, this place still reliably remains focused upon selling bottles of beer and shots of whiskey, which is what is patrons seen to want.

The food menu has expanded but still remains true to its western roots. It’s fairly basic but offers something for everyone, even those who don’t want to eat Alberta beef. The prices are reasonable for a pub and the portion sizes here are decent, one of the few places that are still not downsized.

Biggest Dance Floor in Calgary

Traditionally one is the big attractions to coming to this bar has been the huge dance floor space. This central located source, right in front of the live music stage, is full of couples dancing every weekend. Sometimes there isn’t even room in the floor there are so many people crammed in there. Especially on night featuring fine country music entertainment.

Here’s Aaron Goodvin performing live on stage this past weekend in advance of the CCMA Awards show here in Calgary. This is what makes this venue a great place to hang out and catch rising country music artists before they cost you $100/ticket.

Here’s River Town Saints playing to a small crowd of industry insiders on the stage at the Ranchman’s Club. My next post I will share some exclusive photos and video of more rising artists who are set to break out on the Nashville scene next year, you won’t want to miss reading and watching this. Including never before seen footage of a female artist you haven’t yet heard about named Berlyn and the very first live performance of a new single by Aaron Goodvin and Meghan Patrick called “You Ain’t” which won’t even be released until the end of this month, you can hear it here first…. stay tuned

Ranchmans Club is officially back and that is good news for Calgary live music scene and specifically for the Country music industry. I wish them much success and here’s to a whole new generation of western raised Albertans.

~ King Calgary