Cascade Equinox Festival brought the party to town, but disrupted some residents

Published 11:01 am Thursday, October 5, 2023

Last month, a multi-day music festival hosted by the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center in Redmond brought thousands to the area, prompting some to complain about loud parties that lasted late into the night and into the next morning.

The Cascade Equinox Festival was a three-day festival held Sept. 22-24 at the fairgrounds. It brought dozens of artists to town and attracted thousands to the area to enjoy long days of revelry, art and music.

No arrests or medical calls made during the three-day event, but some residents felt the event was too loud. Some shows went past 4 a.m., with electronic music and bass able to be heard in multiple neighborhoods around Redmond until the sun came up.

Debbie Christiansen of Redmond lives about a mile away from Ridgeview High School. She said could clearly hear the show all three nights.

“It was kind of loud … it was loud at night and it went quite late,” Christiansen said. “I thought it was outside the way it sounded … I thought it was somebody at the end of our road that always has parties.”

County officials said they will do their best to avoid disruption in the future.

“We are aware that the event itself caused some unanticipated impacts and it was certainly never our intent to create negative impacts to the community,” said Geoff Hinds, fair and expo center director. “Our intent is to create positive economic impacts to the community by bringing events like this.”

Hinds said the all music was played indoors in an insulated venue during the early morning hours. Despite that, Hinds said, the fairgrounds has taken into account that some residents were negatively impacted by the event and it intends to learn and adjust its approach for the future.

“This is a first time event and certainly we worked hard to provide sound mitigation efforts in certain places,” Hinds said. “Clearly that wasn’t enough and we will continue to do better moving forward.”

Hinds said the fairgrounds was in compliance with the local statute that regulates decibels limits He said despite being below the decibel limit, the festival still impacted residents. Hinds said the fairgrounds is working to better understand how sound travels as part of future mitigation efforts.

Christiansen said she could hear the sound until she went to sleep at around 1 a.m., but she was able to sleep through it.

“It wasn’t disruptive. It was just irritating when I was trying to watch TV,” she said.

Christiansen has lived in Redmond for almost 30 years and said this particular festival is the loudest event she can remember. Despite the noise, she said she supports the fairgrounds bringing in new events. She just hopes it doesn’t get out of control.

“I’m all for it. I think we need to have more. Even with a little disruption. It is not that often so far. If it were every night, that would be pretty bad,” she said. “I would hope that they have more because it is great for all the businesses in the area.”

Joe Abel, 30, of Bend, attended the festival on both Friday and Saturday and said it was well organized and entertaining. Abel said the festival included a huge variety of musical offerings including electronic, folk, alternative and instrumental hip hop beats.

“It was very well put together. For as many festivals that I’ve been to I was extremely impressed,” said Abel. “It is kind of like if you took a time machine back to the ‘70s.”

Abel said the organizers and the fairgrounds did a good job of keeping things under control and that attendees were respectful. He also said that while some of the revelers appeared to be engaged in illicit drug use, the overall vibe of the festival was positive and family friendly.

“It was a very welcoming space and I feel like everyone respected other people’s boundaries. Every time I’ve been to a music festival there’s always been a drunk person that wants to punch me in the head or do something, or some kind of aggressiveness,” Abel said. “And I didn’t see that at all.”