Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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CALGARY —
A feud that heated up after spicy social media posts from Premier Danielle Smith and the mayor of Alberta’s largest city about noise during the Calgary Stampede has been quashed.
“This compromise provides greater certainty for this year’s Stampede,” Smith said in a Saturday morning post on X ahead of the 10-day rodeo and music festival starting on July 3.
“I want to thank everyone who came to the table in good faith and worked toward a solution.
“Happy Stampeding. Yahoo!”
Smith and Mayor Jeromy Farkas said the city and Stampede event operators have agreed to maintain reduced concert hours and lower decibel levels for outdoor events during this year’s festival, out of respect for residents who live within earshot.
“We have a deal,” Farkas said in a separate Saturday post on X.
“Compared to last year, bass is lower, live music ends every single night at midnight instead of 1: 30 a.m., and weeknight activity wraps up by 1 a.m. instead of 2 a.m.”
Smith said the Alberta Sheriffs, the provincial police agency, have also signed a “first-of-its-kind” memorandum of understanding with the Calgary Police Service as a part of the agreement. The MOU will strengthen the provincial agency’s presence at the Stampede.
Smith said on her provincewide radio show Saturday that the MOU also allows her government, which oversees the agency, to better assess and get accurate details of the complaints residents who live near festival sites have.
“We need to understand what are the concerns,” she said on the radio show.
“Is the concern noise, urination after the concert or is it fighting after the concert? … That’s why we’ll be involved this year. We want to see if there are any additional complaints that might require us to have additional resources.”
The agreement comes days before the Tuesday deadline Smith gave to Calgary, in a letter, to relax the noise and sound rules at this year’s Stampede or face possible provincial intervention.
The June 22 letter said the rules put the vibrancy of the Stampede at risk.
Then council debated changing the rules and voted no.
The city has said it reduced concert hours and decibel levels for the Stampede months ago, after last year’s events drew hundreds of complaints from residents saying their windows vibrated from the noise and social disorder spilled into residential streets during the festival.
Farkas said that vote was the formal response to Smith’s deadline.
Before the letter, Farkas and Smith were feuding on social media.
It started when Smith labelled city council “fun police” for rolling back the hours and noise.
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also weighed in on social media, saying the city was “smothering country music culture.”
Farkas fired back, saying if anyone was cracking down on fun, it was the province, given that its liquor regulators recently hiked the minimum price for booze at bars and restaurants.
Service Alberta rolled back the liquor price hike after Farkas’s comments.
On Saturday, Smith was asked on her radio show whether her involvement and the deadline she gave to Calgary in the discussion over Stampede noise was a form of government overreach.
She responded that as premier, it is her responsibility to advertise the so-called “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” to the world to increase tourism.
“So that’s one reason why we have to make sure that we’re not starting down a pathway that is going to give a reputation for the city that is going to be harder and harder to attract people,” she said.
Farkas said in his post that now Calgary can have an incredible Stampede.
“Support our local businesses, enjoy the music, welcome visitors from around the world, and show everyone why Calgary is the greatest festival city on Earth!
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2026.
— By Fakiha Baig in Edmonton
The Canadian Press
