It'll be a shame if Cowboys tent is no more - spending a weekend afternoon there catching up with friends is one of my favourite annual Stampede traditions:
Cowboys’ Stampede beer tent gets the boot due to BMO Centre expansion
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That’s because there won’t be the iconic Cowboys beer tent there at all.
Last week, $166.6 million of additional funds for the BMO Centre expansion project — which will see the convention centre double in size — were secured thanks to the federal government. But construction of phase one of the project lands exactly on the site that used to host the tent, and it’s set to start this spring.
“Cowboys were well aware right from Day 1 that (it) was actually a temporary location,” said Warren Connell, CEO of the Calgary Stampede. He added plans for the expansion have been in the works since the tent first set up behind the centre in 2010.
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But so far, there has been no word on where Cowboys plans to relocate the popular tent and its musical festival — or if there will be a tent at all this year.
There are tickets on sale for chute passes to the music festival and First Friday, which currently list the dance hall in Cowboys Casino as the venue for this year.
Star Calgary reached out to Penny Lane Entertainment Group, which owns the night club, but did not hear back. Calls to Cowboys’ Stampede and music festival marketing team were also unanswered.
But there won’t be any room for the independent and “massive operation” to relocate onto the busy Stampede grounds.
“To relocate Cowboys (tent) onto Stampede Park ... doesn’t really work for programming needs,” Connell said.
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Surely one of the multitude of parking lots in that area could be put to a better use?