Debate over Calgary Stampede party tent noise has been cranked to 11

What had seemed to be a muted deliberate since feb of a sudden got cranked to 11 in Calgary in recent years.

A dissonance about decibels at a fabled Stampede party tent suddenly became a provincial priority that behooved a letter with veiled warnings from the premier and no fewer than four Alberta cabinet ministers, and an outcry that went all the way up the federal Conservative food chain to the Official Opposition leader.

Paul Vickers, the impresario behind Cowboys Music Festival, made a late-game push in a weekend newspaper op-ed to have city council overturn plans to rein in volumes and end concerts by midnight in the downtown west-end park that becomes Cowboys’ massive nightclub tent during Stampede.

Cowboys enjoyed last year’s civic noise-rules exemption and its 1:30 a.m. Music curfew, although residents in the towers nearby didn’t as much, filing 126 complaints last July about the festival, the city reported. Most complaints were on weekdays; some were from neighbourhoods several kilometres west of the stage.

Vickers and his warnings that Cowboys would have to axe 200 jobs earned some quick support from some friends in high places.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre posted about “city hall gatekeepers” who were “killing jobs” and “smothering country music culture.” 

There were supportive tweets from Poilievre’s former campaign manager, one of his predecessors, and Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner penned an op-ed of her own urging the city “to let the show go on.”

Premier Danielle Smith’s top aide urged the mayor to not “mess up a world-renowned” festival, (one of four posts from him about this on the weekend) and Smith herself decried this as the work of the city “fun police” and called on the city to reconsider the change Vickers had criticized.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas spent his weekend swinging back to defend city administration’s compromises for Cowboys and other party tents around the core, including a video that aimed to “cut through the BS” (he more bluntly laid out what that acronym stands for).

According to Calgary bylaw chief Ryan Pleckaitis, other major North American festivals, from Mardi Gras to Coachella to Lollapalooza in Chicago, have had much earlier curfews than Calgary had for Stampede tents.

Farkas mocked the province as “fun police” for the Alberta liquor regulator’s recent boost to minimum drink prices at bars — and in response, the minister responsible for that regulator ordered it to reverse the price changes, adding to his news release a line about the party tent noise rules, to leave no doubt as to the reasons behind the policy about-face.

Typically, when other levels of government speak out about a municipal matter like the community standards bylaws, it serves as high-profile public pressure.

It has taken on a different dimension with the Smith government and its municipal interventions. The United Conservative cabinet has ordered a partial redesign of Calgary’s Green Line LRT, mused about removing bike lanes or preventing new ones, and has given itself powers to repeal local bylaws.

Smith appeared to hint at that repeal power in a letter she sent to all council members on Monday, signed by herself and the ministers of public safety, municipal affairs, arts and tourism.

In addition to Smith’s written call for the city to meet with party tent operators and others to forge additional compromises on its noise restrictions, she requested a formal response next week, before the Stampede kicked off.

“This will allow Alberta’s government to evaluate whether there is a role for the province (italics mine) in assisting the city and stakeholders to resolve this issue ahead of this year’s Calgary Stampede.”

This all got kicked up to a matter of urgent business at council’s Tuesday meeting. Coun. Kim Tyers, a former office aide for Rempel Garner, proposed letting Cowboys concerts go to 1 a.m. On weeknights, with a higher decibel limit than city staff had authorized for party tents.

That move ultimately failed, nine council votes to six. Several suburban councillors voted for the parties to rage on, while many inner-city councillors urged more consideration for the concerns of their constituents.

“We have ignored large volumes of people who say ‘please don’t do this to us,’” said Nathaniel Schmidt, councillor for the ward that borders downtown.

He also clapped back at the Smith government’s frequent demand that municipalities stay in their jurisdictional lane.

“Everyone’s getting into our lane,” Schmidt said during council debate. “What is more our lane than a noise bylaw?”

Pleckaitis offered one concession to Cowboys, permitting party tents to play softer post-concert music until 1 a.m. To allow crowds to gradually exit (and, assumedly, buy more drinks).

The premier’s office and Cowboys Music Festival both issued statements saying they viewed that measure as a positive step, perhaps a first one. Both called for further consultation, aside from the months of what the city says were preceding discussions and opportunities for feedback.

It’s not clear Tuesday’s debate and extra compromise will quiet the national- and provincial-level din around this closing-time dispute. But much is already set: show tickets are already sold, the country acts and U.S. Hip-hop and pop artists long booked, and nearby apartment dwellers likely bracing themselves for whatever comes next week.

Producer and writer

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