Calgary city councillors declined to change noise exemption permit limits on time and decibel/bass level, though the city’s bylaw unit had already made tweaks to the rules after feedback.

The urgent notice of motion addressing the Stampede time music festival sound issues was discussed at the June 23, 2026, public hearing meeting of Calgary city council.

It was brought forward by Ward 1 Coun. Kim Tyers, and it asked for a relaxation on noise exemption permit rules that were first communicated to music venues back in February of this year. Rather than a hard stop of midnight, with cool-down music until 12:30, Tyers wanted it to go to 1 a.m., with cool-down until 1:30.

It also asked for a reduction of 2.5 decibels instead of 5 for music levels before and after midnight. Further, it asked that enhanced infrastructure, including portable washrooms, were included.

“We should always be exploring ways to support business in our city, while also seeking ways to support our communities and their concerns. I sought to find some areas of compromise on the issues that have been presented,” Coun. Tyers said.

“This includes a manageable reduction to music levels, small extension of operation hours during the week. These changes are trying to meet people in the middle, while trying to provide more certainty for our city’s music festival scene in the future.”

Earlier during question period, Chief of Community Standards, Ryan Pleckaitis said that after hearing feedback over the past week, they’d already relaxed the rules to midnight shut down, with cool down until 1 a.m.

“We understand that there may be disorder issues or concerns that could extend later into the morning hours, but this is offset by reducing risk of overcrowding on sidewalks, traffic congestion, and relieving pressure on our transit system,” he said.

Opportunity to address misinformation: Mayor Farkas

Mayor Jeromy Farkas welcomed the opportunity to have the conversation in public, and applauded Chief Pleckaitis’s description of events leading to the decision Tuesday.

“I think that having this on the agenda allows us an opportunity to correct some of the misinformation that some of the out-of-town politicians from Edmonton and Ottawa have swooped in to be able to correct a couple pieces,” he said.

He was referring to Pleckaitis outlining the timeline going back to February of this year, and that it wasn’t a decision made days before the Calgary Stampede start – as many politicians have suggested. He also addressed the notion that Calgary has restrictive noise rules for musical festivals.

“Even with this year’s restrictions put in place, Calgary is still pushing the envelope with Stampede tents in comparison with other known North American festivals. Coachella, for example, is a six-day festival, which takes place over two weekends and has a hard stop for concerts at 1 a.m. and it’s in a desert,” Chief Pleckaitis said.

“Lollapalooza is a four-day concert in Chicago, which has a hard stop at 10 p.m. Even with our vibrant music scene here in Calgary, we have events like Chasing Summer and Country Thunder that end at 11 o’clock at night, and the Folk Fest ends at midnight.”

The mayor later mentioned that none of this is related to anything Calgary Stampede-related, as purported by outside political officials. The Calgary Stampede has an explicit carve out for noise exemptions during their 10-day event.

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot submitted an amendment that would reduce the original five dBA and five dBC reduction by to three dBA/dBC. He said three dBA represents an actual 50 per cent decrease in sound power instead of the suggested compromise of 2.5 decibels, which will make a difference.

“From the source, you’re not going to notice any difference, but when you get out there, because of the inverse square law, that’s where you’ll perceive the difference, and that’s what the intent is,” he said.

The amendment was approved, but ultimately died when the main motion failed.

Noise wasn’t even brought up at recent meeting with Cowboys: Coun. Wyness

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said that there are multiple Stampede tents happening, and they seem to be OK with complying with the new rules. She said she was challenged by Cowboys opposition to the changes.

“I met with them recently, after they didn’t show up to many meetings, and this wasn’t on our agenda,” she said.

“So, I feel let down that the organization is saying that council must do this but wasn’t bringing it up in meetings that the organization was having with councillors last year.”

Wyness also said she believed that policing resources would be diverted from suburban areas to deal with downtown disorder.

“This could have been handled a lot better by, I think, council and Cowboys, but we find ourselves here. I think the changes at midnight are a reasonable change right now, given even World Cup hosting cities are ending at midnight,” she said.

“This is still going to be a good party, and by that time you can’t even hear the music, because you’ve already blown out your eardrums, so I will not be supporting this.”

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean believed this was a similar situation to how Calgary handled the Canada Day fireworks issue back in 2023.

“This is the Stampede, folks. It’s 10 days. Comparing it to other events I don’t think is fair, and it’s 10 days we go hard, everybody has a really good time, everybody stays up late,” he said.

“We should have left it just alone the way it was.”

Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson, whose area encompasses the region around the Cowboys Music Festival location, said he wasn’t going to support any further changes. He said he heard loud and clear during the recent election campaign about the noise, the loss of space and the loss of the skate park.

“People in towers deserve the same respect as any residents. We have thousands of individuals living in the west end with thousands of individuals living in Sunalta, and all the communities up to up into Ward Six that are going to be impacted by the noise.

“To do right by this is a way that we continue to keep Calgary a music festival location, because we support and make sure that there isn’t a battle taking place.”

Mayor Farkas said that he wouldn’t support it, and that they need to stand up to “bad actors.”

“I think we need to choose to listen to the people most impacted rather than to answer to the money,” he said.

“We are talking about one single egregious bad actor who has been treating their neighbours like garbage, I’m very happy to see compromise and work with operators who respect Calgarians, but ultimately, as a body, we answer to the nurse that’s getting ready for their shift, we answer to the parents who’s getting their kids ready for school, and ultimately the blue collar worker who needs sleep.

“So, if you want to do business in Calgary, respect the people who live next door.”