Red Mile

The Red Mile is the name given to a stretch of 17th Avenue S.W. in Calgary, Alberta, Canada during the Calgary Flames 2004 Stanley Cup playoff run, which ended in defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It gained world wide notoriety both for the relative lack of violence while upwards of 55 000 fans celebrated their team's success, as well as for the Mardi Gras-like atmosphere as societal norms were routinely flouted, particularly by women flashing their breasts. The 'Red' originates from the home team colour of the Calgary Flames' jerseys, red, similarly characterized by the 'Sea of Red' seen at many home games in the Saddledome; 'Sea of Red' and 'C of Red' (for the Flames' flaming C) is a play on words.

The predecessor to the Red Mile was a bar strip on 11th Avenue S.W. known as Electric Avenue, where thousands of Flames fans celebrated during the 1986 and 1989 playoff runs. Concerns by the City about the violence encouraged by having so many bars in such close proximity ultimately led to the shut down of Electric Avenue in the early 1990s.

2004 marked the first time the Flames qualified for the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs since 1996. The Red Mile's beginnings were relatively humble, and consisted of people driving down the Red Mile honking and waving flags, as people walked the streets cheering and clapping hands. Several thousand fans went to bars along 17th Avenue S.W. to watch the Flames on the road against the Vancouver Canucks in the first round, and also to watch the team play at the nearby Pengrowth Saddledome for home games. When the Flames eliminated the Canucks in the seventh and deciding game by Martin Gelinas' overtime goal, fans flooded the streets in a relatively spontaneous party celebrating the Flames first playoff series victory since the 1989 Stanley Cup final against the Montreal Canadiens. The fact that this was spontaneous is a phenomenon in itself; there had been no advertising or other form of publicizing of 17th Avenue as an after-game party strip prior to the playoff run.

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