Flavours of Monkland Festival undergoing changes after residents, merchants complain

The upcoming Flavours of Monkland Festival in NDG is causing tension among residents in the area.

Some merchants started a petition and complained that the celebration drives business away.

As a result, borough officials announced changes to the festival Wednesday night during a council meeting.

Some of the changes include:

• Lowering bass levels by 50 per cent to decrease noise.
• Limiting noisy food truck generators to three.
• Reducing the number of days and hours the festival runs from four to three days and from 48 to 37.5 hours.
• No more live shows after 11:30 p.m.
• Increased police presence.
• Hiring a special cleaning crew assisted by local workers.
• Shortening the size of the festival. Instead of starting at Girouard Avenue and ending on Hampton Avenue, it will end at Draper Avenue.

The changes were little consolation to residents who attended the meeting.

“I’ve seen this festival grow from what really used to be a small street festival to what I consider to be a monstrosity at this point,” said Joe Trubiano, a longtime Oxford Street resident.

“It’s gone way beyond anything that I think the street is capable of supporting.”

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Shelley Corrin and her husband, who is handicapped, live close to where the main stage is.

“Me and my husband are under house arrest,” she said of the lack of parking on her street.

“Move it around or move it out of town. I’d rather not have it.”

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Many others were even calling for the outright cancellation of the upcoming festival, although officials said that’s not on the table.

Organizers said all the negative reaction is disappointing.

“It’s just disappointing that merchants and friends, neighbours and residents just couldn’t pick up the phone or come visit us and solve the problem,” said Danny Roseman, President of Monkland Village Productions, the company that puts the festival together.

“We’re maybe one of the few people in this world trying to champion small businesses and unfortunately there’s a lot of negativity surrounding what we’re trying to do.”

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Officials said they will review the future of the festival in the fall or early winter.