The 10-year rebranding is part of a partnership between the City of Calgary and Cowboys bar and music festival
Millennium Park just got a new name: Cowboys Park.
The 10-year rebranding is part of a partnership between the City of Calgary and Cowboys bar and music festival, which hosts renowned international artists — including Tate McRae, PartyNextDoor and Schoolboy Q — during Stampede, drawing more than 100,000 visitors.
The event space will now be in the west end of downtown Calgary.
“I’m really happy that the Cowboys organization has decided that they wish to activate this space so it continues to live on,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek said.
“They’ve breathed new life into it, and we’ve got something on the west side of downtown that is going to be tremendous.”
The partnership will also involve investing in infrastructure improvements, the city said, allowing visitors to access the park’s amenities, including outdoor climbing boulders and Canada’s largest free outdoor skate park
Paul Vickers, president of the organizer, Penny Lane Entertainment, said the idea sprung from his son, who wanted to have a few skateboarding events.
“As the evolution came about of where to find a good home for Cowboys that might be more conducive to having more of a festival size atmosphere — now you think of the Coachella South by Southwest in Austin, Texas — that gave us some inspiration for fitting it into a big personality park like this,” Vickers said.
“I think there’s an opportunity to go beyond that and have family-friendly events throughout the year. In the wintertime, I think I’d love to have a Christmas event here in the form of music, arts, culture.”
Coun. Terry Wong said the partnership will be a treat for those craving more events in the city.
“For those that are starved for entertainment culture, you’re going to see a lot more downtown,” he said.
Wong added the park might get a podium and concrete bases for performances.
“Where it’s going to look like the same Cowboys tent down the east side of Calgary, it might be something a little more permanent than that,” Wong said.
He added the park will be attractive to “all ages . . . and certainly all cultures as well.”
— With files from Dean Pilling.