Ward 7 Councillor Myke Atkinson has launched a sharp critique against the City of Calgary, accusing municipal officials of failing to take appropriate action in response to a flood of public complaints surrounding the 2025 Cowboys Music Festival. The event, held last July at Cowboys Park in downtown Calgary, generated significant negative feedback from residents, which Atkinson claims has been largely ignored in planning for this year's iteration.
Overwhelming Volume of Grievances
According to Councillor Atkinson, the city received 126 formal complaints about the festival through its 311 service line during the summer of 2025. These grievances accounted for more than half of all complaints submitted during the Calgary Stampede period. The councillor revealed that the Cowboys music tent alone generated more complaints than all other Stampede tents combined that year.
"I know not everything is going to go right in the first year of a festival coming into a new space, but we heard many complaints," Atkinson told reporters. "It's not a good show of how public space needs to be treated."
Nature of the Complaints
The complaints ranged from noise disturbances to more serious concerns about public safety and community impact. Residents reported issues including public intoxication, urination on private property, and general disruption to the residential community in the west end of downtown Calgary. Additionally, skatepark users expressed outrage when sections of the outdoor facility were barricaded in June 2025 to create a staging area for festival crews.
A Change.org petition urging festival organizers to reconsider their use of the skatepark ultimately garnered more than 4,600 electronic signatures, highlighting the depth of community concern about the festival's impact on public amenities.
Background on Cowboys Park
The 2025 festival marked the first time the Cowboys Music Festival was held at Cowboys Park, the space on the west side of downtown formerly known as Millennium Park. The park was renamed in the summer of 2024 after Penny Lane Entertainment, which owns the Cowboys Casino and dance hall in Victoria Park, signed a 10-year naming rights and sponsorship deal with the city.
The agreement stipulates that the company's marquee music festival will be hosted at the park every summer, creating an ongoing commitment that has now become a source of tension between residents, city officials, and event organizers.
Efforts to Address Concerns
Since his election last fall, Councillor Atkinson has been working with both city administration and Penny Lane Entertainment representatives to find compromises that would prevent similar backlash during future festivals. He hosted a town hall on March 9 that brought together members of the public, city officials, and Penny Lane representatives to address community issues and forge a better path forward.
"(It's) something that needs to be addressed, and we have to take a wider look at what the safety and security around the site looks like to make sure that there are no accidents, that people are getting home safely, and that the residential community that is the west end of downtown is respected," Atkinson emphasized.
Disappointing Progress
Despite these efforts, Atkinson expressed frustration that a recent letter to council from city officials—co-signed by a Penny Lane executive—suggested only minor changes would be implemented for this year's festival. The councillor argued this approach fails to adequately address the concerns raised by residents.
"To not address those complaints and to move forward with basically the exact same of what we were doing last time means that we are not actually addressing the engagement concerns that were needed," he stated.
The situation highlights ongoing tensions between event organizers seeking to utilize public spaces for large-scale entertainment and residents who expect their quality of life and access to community amenities to be protected. As planning continues for the next Cowboys Music Festival, all parties will be watching to see whether the city can bridge the gap between commercial interests and community needs.
