![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/808584986f996725a76d49c0eb657a6e.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nCowboys is bucking against Calgary’s new noise rules, arguing they could drive business and entertainment events out of the city.<\/p>\n
Updated regulations call for outdoor concerts on weeknights to end at midnight, and cuts volume and bass limits for all shows by five decibels. Outdoor concerts on weekends can run as late as in previous years.<\/p>\n
Paul Vickers, president of Penny Lane Entertainment, has asked the city to reconsider its decision ahead of Cowboys Music Festival, which begins July 2. He said it\u2019s impossible for his company to run the event without going above the new maximum noise limits.<\/p>\n
\u201cCities are trying to entice music operators to open up a festival, because they understand the tourism and the commerce and the jobs that it provides in their city,\u201d said Vickers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they want to have a young, fun, vibrant city, then you have to let people have young, fun, vibrant times. Sorry, but they make noise.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Paul Vickers, president of Penny Lane Entertainment, argues new local noise rules are too restrictive for Cowboys Music Festival. (Helen Pike\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Penny Lane owns the festival, as well as Cowboys Dance Hall. Cowboys Music Festival annually attracts world-famous performers and thousands of concertgoers to the west end of downtown during the Calgary Stampede.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old festival moved to its new location at the redubbed Cowboys Park in 2025. Penny Lane signed a decade-long naming and sponsorship<\/a> deal with the city to rename the former Shaw Millennium Park, host its festival there and renovate the park.<\/p>\n The deal has been met with mixed public response<\/a>. It has also received criticism for not disclosing<\/a> enough detail, and for shutting down parts of the country’s largest outdoor skatepark<\/a> during peak summer months.<\/p>\n Mayor has no issue with new noise rules<\/p>\n Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he doesn’t have a problem with the city’s new noise caps and weekday end time, but that he\u2019s happy to work with groups like Cowboys to balance their needs with resident expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re living downtown, you have a certain expectation to have a little bit of liveliness, more events, programming,\u201d said Farkas.<\/p>\n “But to allow for, say, 2 a.m., 3 a.m. on weeknights is very challenging for some of these downtown residents.”<\/p>\n City administration reports it received 125 noise complaints surrounding Cowboys Music Festival last year, as well as complaints of excessive intoxication, public urination and social disorder, all of which prompted the new rules.<\/p>\n Farkas said he understands the city notified groups like Cowboys, which would be affected by the regulation changes, in February.<\/p>\n Potential for layoffs, less local acts: organizer<\/p>\n But the updated restrictions will lead to layoffs for the festival, Vickers said.<\/p>\n New weekday end times mean concerts will begin earlier, and Vickers said that could lead to local opening acts being cut. He also estimated more than 250 staff members will have to be let go if the festival isn\u2019t operating as late as before.<\/p>\n LISTEN | Cowboys remade the look of Millennium Park when it moved in last year:<\/p>\n \u201cI do respectfully understand everyone\u2019s equation they\u2019re trying to push into this, but they don\u2019t understand our side of it. This is what live entertainment wants,\u201d said Vickers.<\/p>\n He added that with the new restrictions, \u201cYou could not run a church at this time of night, because it would be too noisy, too loud, too many cars.\u201d<\/p>\n He also pointed out the number of noise complaints represents a fraction of the event’s thousands of attendants.<\/p>\n Coun. Myke Atkinson, whose ward includes Cowboys Park, argues the music festival should be able to follow the same noise regulations as events at other times of the year. (Acton Clarkin\/CBC)<\/p>\n Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson, who represents the area where the festival is held, said because other music festivals can operate within the city\u2019s regulations, Cowboys should be no different.<\/p>\n \u201cRules are there to make sure that we are protecting the rights of citizens while also allowing businesses to thrive,” said Atkinson.<\/p>\n “Those two things have to go hand in hand to make sure that we actually have a thriving industry, and we don’t have pushback that makes these kinds of things flounder.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Independent](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bede91e36fad86af35adaee0b1d0db22.jpeg\"\/)
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