Since 2000, Millennium Park has been a destination for skateboarders but it looks the park is on the verge of landing some bigger tricks.
Millennium Park has been renamed Cowboys Park after a 10-year naming and sponsorship deal with the owner of Cowboys Dance Hall and Cowboys Music Festival.
“We wanted to take it a step further,” said Paul Vickers, Penny Lane Entertainment president, at the announcement on Friday. “This park enables us to do things we weren’t able to before.”
Cowboys moseyed on it with plans to have events held at the park on the west of Calgary’s downtown year-round.
Vickers envisions a Christmas festival along with big music events.
“Think of things like Coachella, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas — that gave us some inspiration for a big personality park like this,” Vickers said.
The city has long talked about developing the west end of the city but was looking for more amenities for people living there.
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Calgary’s mayor hopes year-round events will breathe new life in the west side of downtown.
“We need these types of gathering places in all parts of our city and the type of love we are returning to the west side of downtown is very much needed,” Jyoti Gondek said.
The naming rights had expired so the partnership with Cowboys just made sense to help activate the space.
“Sometimes it’s hard to do with city budgets. So to have a private sector partner who’s willing to step up and help us do the improvements that are needed to keep this place going, that’s been positive news for us,” Gondek said.
The long-running Cowboys Music Festival will relocate to the park starting next year.
The park, next to Mewata Armoury, covers about seven hectares, with 75,000 square feet of skateable surface, making it one of North America’s largest skate parks.
The existing infrastructure will be upgraded starting in 2025.
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