Travel Answers

Hi all
We're travelling from New Zealand to Calgary for the stampede, arrive 1st July/depart 8th. We're two couples and one of us has bad knees so we thought that we'd try to avoid public transport for him and opt for a rental car.
We've arranged parking in the grounds and seating for the parade;so far so good. The big question is parking for the parade. We're staying on 16th Ave NW and the parade breakfast is 7am at the corner of 8th Ave SW & 7th St SW. The plan is to leave early and drive to the 24 hour parkade at 722 8th Ave SW and be there by 6am.
No idea what traffic will be like then or how long to get to the parkade so any advice would be really helpful.
Also as our car rental is costing a hair raising $1883 CAD for 8 days (although this includes $199 one way drop off fee to Edmonton) we'd heard that some car sales will sell a car and then buy it back after a short term visit and pay approx $1000 less. Anyone know anything of this?
I know the sensible and cheaper option is to use the train but we're catering to our friend who can't stand for too long. Thanks for any advice.