The organizer of a multicultural festival that featured popular Persian acts and drew thousands to Coquitlam Town Centre Park last Sunday says he will host a similar event next year despite complaints to the city about it.
Dream Event Productions owner Amir Ali Nia Ta said the 10-hour Tirgan Multicultural Summer Festival attracted about 5,000 people.
Coquitlam RCMP said the detachment received calls all day Sunday about the noise levels and duration of the event. But nobody relayed those messages to the city, which had bylaw officers on site, said Kathy Reinheimer, Coquitlam's manager of parks and facilities, who said the city received 15 noise complaints.
Had police told bylaw officers the event was "outrageously loud, then they would have made sure the volume was turned down," she said, adding the sub-woofers were the culprit.
Reinheimer said the city's interdepartmental events team, which includes Coquitlam Fire and Rescue and police, will be reviewing the festival and it may make protocol changes.
As for Ta, a Coquitlam resident, he said Wednesday that he heard of no complaints and heralded the event, which was sponsored in part by the Tri-City Iranian Cultural Society and saw performers Nooshafarin, Iman Sani and Amed Dance Group, among others.
Ta said he plans to move the venue to a different location in Coquitlam Town Centre Park next year and make the festival shorter - and better.
"It was a first year and it's always experimental," he told The Tri-City News. "You can't make everybody happy."
