Ever After seeks noise exemption, to extend festival to Thursday night

The Ever After festival is gearing up for its fifth run in Kitchener this June, this time with an extra night of music.

The electronic dance music festival is set to start on Thursday, June 6 and continue until Sunday, June 9 at Bingemans.

In the past, the event has been held over just three days. It's also been the source of noise complaints from the surrounding neighbourhood.

In 2017, there were 130 complaints about the festival to the bylaw office and police. That's compared to only seven complaints the previous year.

The increase prompted a review by the city, resulting in several recommendations for the 2018 festival, including dropping acceptable sound levels in the surrounding neighbourhood from 65 to 55 decibels.

Beyond Oz Productions, the company behind the festival, also hired a new production company in 2018 called PK Sound. PK Sound uses more advanced sound system technology, with the ability to direct the sound more accurately and adjust levels in real time.

Beyond Oz said it has "massively improved and upgraded" its sound system for 2019, "which will now offer over 750,000 watts of bass courtesy of PK Sound."

In a statement to CBC Kitchener-Waterloo, organizer Gabriel Mattacchione said:  "Things went great in 2018 for the most part, but I believe we have to shift some focus back to our paying customer and make sure their experience is of a world class nature. 

"There has to be some give and take with the community, a place we can meet in the middle. Beyond Oz, the regions staff, and myself will be working diligently to make sure our festival attendees, and the rest of the community get what they want respectively. "

"That being said, keeping a limit of 55 dba in residential areas may not be realistic for 2019, as we will be turning the sound up in focused areas within the venue."

Gloria MacNeil, the director of bylaw enforcement with the city of Kitchener, says the recommendations resulted in a significant drop in complaints, with only six made in 2018.

"We would like to continue to see the promoters use this sound system," MacNeil said. "If we receive complaints or an area is problematic, they've got the ability to make those adjustments real time and change that, which was fantastic."

A noise exemption request for the festival will go before Kitchener city council on Monday.

City staff are recommending an exemption be granted between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on the Thursday, between 1 p.m. and 11 p.m. on the Friday and Saturday, and between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. on the Sunday.

MacNeil said there are two major changes for 2019, including the addition of the Thursday night. Those performances will take place on the smaller or two stages, starting at 5 p.m.

In addition, the festival is scheduled to end at 11 p.m. on Sunday, two hours later than the exemption period recommended by staff. Last year, the festival was scheduled to end at 9 p.m. but performances did continue later into the evening.

MacNeil said the festival was not fined for going beyond the noise exemption, but organizers are still taking a chance by testing the limits of the bylaw.

"There has to be excessive noise and an actual violation of the noise bylaw in order for us to lay a charge, so it's not as simple as, if they go past nine we can automatically lay a charge," said McNeil.

"[The] organizers feel quite strongly that the sound system will work for what they need it to, and they will be able to make adjustments should we receive complaints," she said. 

The lineup will include: ILLENIUM, Excision, Chris Lake, Feed Me, G Jones, Green Velvet, Justin Martin, MALAA, NOISIA, Rusko, Wax Motif, Zomboy and many more, said the festival.