SnowGlobe working to curtail unwanted noise

By Kathryn Reed

It may be impossible to ever completely satisfy those who are against SnowGlobe.

Even though the promoter of the three-day music festival has agreed to shorten the hours, eliminate a day of sound checks, cover the entire ball field with a protective material, use an independent sound engineer and other concessions, opponents want more.

“Most of our issues are not with SnowGlobe; they are with policy and planning,” Scott Ramirez told the South Lake Tahoe City Council.

The 2018 SnowGlobe contract includes:
• Vendors/sponsors will agree to preapproved tent/structure specifications. Non-compliance will result in a fine of $1,000 per violation.
• Seven (instead of six) California Highway Patrol officers will be used to patrol Al Tahoe Boulevard.
• A site plan for Bijou Community Park must be submitted, including citing activities for that site; as well as listing location for off-site box office.
• Putting in writing the fire department can cancel the fireworks.
• The field, pending weather, will be ready for use by June 1.
• Music will end at 10pm on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30, and at 12:45am Jan. 1.
• Speakers and subwoofers will be placed according to a sound engineer so as to create the least disturbance for residential areas.
• Sound checks will start after 11am on festival days, and will be from 11am-8pm on Dec. 28.
• South Lake Tahoe Drug Coalition will receive a free booth.
• Removing snow before the entire field is covered with a product that is the same material the San Francisco Giants and 49ers use.
• Per the existing contract the city is paying up to $35,000 for promotional materials, and $15,000 for transportation and garbage. Another $75,000 is provided in kind services/labor. SnowGlobe will put up at $250,000 bond in case the field needs replacing/repairs.

He is part of the No Globe Alliance. This is a group of South Lake Tahoe residents who are fed up with the bass that has rocked their homes since the festival started in 2011. While they contend they don’t want to shut down the festival, they want more. They want enforcement. They want fines. They want their concerns to be heard as loudly as the noise they complain about.

The problem is there are no guarantees that what will be implemented for this December’s event will do enough to satisfy those who are upset.

Nonetheless, the three-day festival that features electronic dance music will be back this year.

Chad Donnelly, the promoter of SnowGlobe, has a lot riding on his plans to mitigate the sound disturbance. He wants a long-term contract with the city and this is the last year of the existing deal. The number of complaints and what the field looks like will be key factors the council will consider in the future.

While noise has been an issue since the first year, every year seems to have come with some other negative component – a death, remnants of the festival left for months because of snow, and a field needing to be replaced. The latter is being taken care of now so it will be ready to be used in the summer.

And while the naysayers are a vocal ensemble each time SnowGlobe is on a council agenda, as was the case last week, there is an equally passionate group that supports the festival. Those people see it from the economic point-of-view.

It’s no longer a given that South Shore hotels will be full on New Year’s Eve. The lack of snow is a constant worry. Plus, SnowGlobe brings guests who usually stay a minimum of three nights because most of the nearly 20,000 attendees attend each night.

At last week’s meeting the council, with member Brooke Laine absent, agreed to tighten a few rules that staff recommended. Also incorporated into the amended agreement were aspects of the deal worked out between the promoter and “no globers.”