The City of Calgary has rescinded a noise ticket issued to organizers of the Badlands Music Festival after an internal review.The reversal comes days after city officials announced Badlands was issued multiple warnings after noise readings exceeded the maximum decibel level permitted under the festival's Noise Exemption Permit. In an update Thursday morning, the city confirmed that the ticket previously issued to Badlands organizers is no longer active.“After completing an internal review of the ticket issued to organizers of the Badlands Music Festival, the ticket has been rescinded,” the city said. “As a result, there are currently no active enforcement actions associated with that incident.”While the city has not provided further details explaining why the ticket was cancelled, officials said they will continue monitoring the venue for compliance with its approved Noise Exemption Permit conditions..“We are encouraged by the reduction in decibel levels over the past three nights; however, bass levels remain a challenge,” said Ryan Pleckaitis, Chief of Community Standards.The City reported that there is now 186 noise complaints related to Stampede events and festival activities as of Thursday, with the majority connected to other venues across the city.Cowboys Music Festival received the most complaints with 124, followed by Badlands with 37. Whiskey Rose received six complaints, National Saloon received one, and other events accounted for 18 complaints.Despite attracting the largest number of complaints, city officials said Cowboys remained in compliance with its permit throughout the reporting period."We're pleased to report that every noise reading taken for Cowboys Music Festival has been below their allowable maximum decibel limit as prescribed in their Noise Exemption Permit," the city said..Following the 2025 Calgary Stampede, the City of Calgary received more than 220 formal noise complaints related to two outdoor music festivals, with approximately 125 of those complaints involving the Cowboys Music Festival.Residents reported bass vibrations shaking nearby apartment buildings, concerts continuing late into the evening, and difficulty sleeping during Stampede week.City monitoring also found Cowboys exceeded its permitted overnight sound limits between midnight and 1 a.m.Following months of review, the city introduced earlier weekday concert curfews and lower allowable sound levels for several major outdoor festivals.For now, the city says it will continue monitoring Stampede venues, with another update expected Sunday.
