Calgary International Blues Festival organizer calls proposed changes to park venue 'heartbreaking'

CBC

20-02-2025

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The organizer of a major Calgary music festival says she's heartbroken over changes to the former Shaw Millennium Park that she says will turn the green space into a "giant parking lot."
Cindy McLeod, founder and producer of the Calgary International Blues Festival, noticed the pending changes earlier this month when the city sent an updated map of their venue, now called Cowboys Park, at the west end of downtown.
She says the details are limited but it appears most of the park's green space will be paved over, and the amphitheatre and raised stage will be torn down.
"It's just going to be like a giant parking lot," said McLeod, "It's heartbreaking, really."
The Bluesfest is scheduled to run July 31 to Aug. 3, 2025.
For the past 14 years, it's been held at the park, which is next to Mewata Armoury. Previously, it took place at Victoria Park and before that at Pumphouse Park.
Organizers and attendees celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. McLeod says it now welcomes about 17,000 visitors over the four-day event.
CBC News reached out to the City of Calgary for details on the changes to the park.
In an email, a spokesperson for Calgary Parks said more details would be provided at the end of the month.
McLeod says the redesign came as quite a shock — both as an organizer and frequent user of the park.
"When you have a public asset that the community utilizes regularly, you know, it's a very odd thing that there was no stakeholder engagement," said McLeod.
Now with the clock ticking, and so much on the line, she worries about the impact to this year's Bluesfest.
She says the asphalt would be hot for volunteers and attendees, and she says they don't have enough money to purchase a huge tent.
McLeod says she knew changes would be coming to the site as far back as December 2023, when the city sent a notice stating the festival was being evicted.
She says she was eventually told they could stay.
Then in July 2024, it was announced that Cowboys had signed a 10-year naming and sponsorship deal with the city.
That meant Millennium Park would become Cowboys Park, and the long-running Cowboys Music Festival would relocate there this summer.
At the time of the name unveiling, Cowboys said it would work with the city to upgrade and enhance the park.
But McLeod says they hadn't been able to find out exactly what that meant despite repeated requests to the city and Cowboys until they got the updated map on Feb. 3.
CBC News sought an interview with the owner of Cowboys, Paul Vickers, but did not receive a reply.
McLeod says that at this point, they've already sold a lot of tickets and it's too late to switch venues.
Besides, she says, there are limited options in the city.