Millenium Park now has a new name: Cowboys Park.

The 10-year sponsorship and naming agreement was announced Friday, along with the promise to host more than 100,000 visitors for national and international events and festivals.

The hope for the space is to be all-inclusive and bring family-friendly events to the space. This also includes the park being the new host for one of the city’s most popular events, the Cowboys Music Festival in 2025. The current Cowboys tent will likely have to make way for the construction of the new Calgary Event Centre.

Millennium Park is already popular as it contains Canada’s largest free outdoor skate park and is located close to the Downton West – Kerby LRT station making transportation to the area relatively simple.

As Cowboys is known for their hosting of major musical events and stampede festivities, they are looking to expand more in an area that can provide a festival-like atmosphere.

“An evolution came about, where to find a good home for cowboys that might be more conducive to having more of a festival-size atmosphere,” said Paul Vickers, owner and founder of Cowboys.

The team at Cowboys is also hopeful that they can reach a more family-friendly audience with their expansion in Cowboys Park.

“If we can have a multiple-event place or stampede, I think we’re pretty good at throwing those kinds of things. I think we’ll have pretty good success, but I think there’s an opportunity to go beyond that and have family-friendly events throughout the year,” said Vickers 

The first few family events, currently in the works, according to Vickers, are Christmas-themed events and Stampede barbeque coming to the park. 

As the city continues with its redevelopment goals in downtown Calgary, there is hope that spaces like Cowboys Park bring a new and vibrant atmosphere to the city’s downtown, according to Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

“We need these types of gathering places in all parts of our city, and the type of love that we’re returning to the west side of downtown is very much needed,” said Gondek. 

The mayor also explained how one of the iconic symbols of Calgary is the Cowboy, so having a partner like the Cowboys is an important aspect when carrying on traditions. 

“I think when it comes to this park when you see the types of activations and the fact that the focus is on family and community, that’s really what’s going to be a factor,” said Gondek.

The former Shaw moniker for the park ended recently, and the City of Calgary has been in naming talks since that last deal expired. The City of Calgary said last August that the end of the Shaw name wasn’t due to the merger with Rogers.