The Portola Music Festival announced its coming back in late September, though not in a splashy social media announcement, but instead in a letter to Alameda residents who’ve been up in arms about the festival’s noise.
The Chronicle has the news today that the electronica/dance music-focused Portala Music Festival intends to return for a third year on September 28 and 29, which would again put it on Folsom Street Fair weekend. But there are no announcements of such on the Portola Festival’s website or its social media channels, nor any performers announced.
Instead, the announcement comes in the form of a letter to Alameda residents whose local government has been threatening to shut down the event over the volume of noise it creates. And the Chronicle’s report notes that Portola Festival organizer Goldenvoice is promising those residents they won’t be so loud this year.
"Portola is a two-day festival with special lineups each day," says the letter to residents from concert promoter Goldenvoice, who also organize Coachella. “This event is scheduled on Saturday, September 28th 1:00PM – 11:00PM and Sunday September 29th 1:00PM – 11:00PM, with all outdoor music on Sunday ending by 10:45PM.”
So that all sounds like they are quite confident this festival will happen.
"Understanding that sound was a factor that had an impact on the community, we will continue focusing a significant amount of energy and resources in creating better solutions this year," the letter continues. "We welcome and encourage feedback from the community as it helps us understand the positive and negative impacts from last year, which will allow us to continue doing what worked and develop solutions for what didn’t."
Goldenvoice is promising those Alameda residents a hotline to call with noise complaints, reduced volume, and altered stage placement that will hopefully lessen the amount of noise that cruises across the Bay. They’re also cutting off the outdoor music at 10:45 pm on Sunday, though that’s only 15 minutes earlier than previous years.
Yet it is not written in stone that the Portola Music Festival will happen on those dates this year. The festival has not yet been granted a permit from the SF Entertainment Commission, though the hearing for that permit is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, April 16 at 5:30 pm, and will be broadcast on the SFGovTV website.
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist
