A Calgary city councillor is again voicing strong concerns about the disruptions caused by the Cowboys Music Festival, as the city prepares to close a significant portion of a popular downtown skate park for the event this summer.
Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson spoke out on Friday regarding the upcoming festival, which is scheduled to run from July 2 to 12. He highlighted the negative effects on the community and the public park, which was known as Millennium Park until a naming rights deal was struck in 2024.
"Cowboys Music Festival, which last year was quite disruptive to the overall park and the surrounding community, is poised to once again potentially inconvenience people," Atkinson said during a media conference. "It's not how we should be treating our public spaces and our public parks."
The core of the issue stems from the festival's footprint, which requires fencing off large sections of the skate park at Cowboys Park for weeks before, during, and after the 10-day event. This move proved to be a highly contentious issue among local skateboarders and park users in 2025, the first year the festival was held at the Ninth Avenue S.W. location.
Community concerns over noise and disorder
Beyond the loss of park access, residents in the adjacent Beltline neighbourhood have raised alarms about noise and anti-social behaviour associated with the festival. Peter Oliver of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association described the event as a major problem for those living nearby.
"Everyone was extremely upset and caught by surprise about this last summer when it happened," Oliver said. "It's a nightmare. No one would want to live next to a beer tent where people urinate on the side of your home for 10 days a year."
According to Atkinson's office, complaints regarding the Cowboys Music Festival accounted for "more than half of all Stampede-related outdoor event noise complaints citywide" made to the 311 service last year. While the city did not confirm the exact figure, it acknowledged the feedback and is introducing new noise exemption hours for this year's event season.
Doug Morgan, the city’s general manager of operational services, stated that the city is "responding to public feedback around noise." Under the new rules, noise exemptions for concerts will end at midnight from Sunday to Thursday and at 1:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Previously, music was permitted until 2 a.m. throughout the Calgary Stampede.
Debate over public space
The controversy touches on a wider, ongoing debate in Calgary about the use and funding of public spaces. The renaming of Millennium Park to Cowboys Park in 2024 was part of a sponsorship agreement with the owners of Cowboys Dance Hall, a deal intended to bring revenue and major events to the city's core. Similar discussions around downtown revitalization are ongoing, with projects like the recent new rental tower in the East Village aiming to bring more residents to the area. This follows debates in other cities, such as the delayed Mississauga-Brampton LRT, which also raised questions about civic infrastructure and funding.
To be taking away this kind of space from the public over the best months of the summer is not doing right by our youth [or] by our communities.
The debate mirrors other civic discussions about equity in public services. For years, Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot has been the lone vote against a special tax bylaw that allows wealthier neighbourhoods to pay for enhanced landscaping services. Chabot argues this creates a two-tiered system.
"It comes down to ability to pay," Chabot said in a previous interview. "Calgarians expect similar-type services for the taxes that they pay… Why should they get special treatment just because they have the ability to pay for more?" While the festival controversy involves the temporary privatization of a park rather than landscaping, it raises similar questions about whether public amenities should be equally accessible to all residents or can be commandeered for private, ticketed events that displace regular users.
City aims to balance interests
The City of Calgary says it is trying to find a middle ground. After receiving 688 submissions through an online feedback portal last spring, officials say they are making adjustments based on the lessons learned from the festival's inaugural year at the park.
"This year’s event footprint was adjusted based on lessons learned from 2025, with the goal of balancing the needs of festival-goers and skateboarders," Morgan said. He confirmed that the beginner bowl and a portion of the advanced bowl will remain open to the public this year, and the overall closure period will be reduced.
The city has also committed to further public engagement to inform the next phase of improvements at Cowboys Park, which are planned for the spring and fall of 2026. This process follows other recent contentious city-wide debates, such as the now-repealed blanket rezoning bylaw, which also saw council navigating deeply divided public opinion.
This year marks the 30th anniversary for the Cowboys Music Festival, which has become a major off-park draw during Stampede. Headliners for the 2026 event include Macklemore, Ella Langley, and BigXthaPlug. Morgan said the city will continue to learn from the experience to improve planning for future years.
"Looking ahead, the city and the event organizer will use what we’ve learned this year to plan earlier for 2027 and identify more ways to reduce disruptions to skatepark users while continuing to support major downtown events," he said.
