Almost three weeks after Merriweather Post Pavilion's Sweetlife Festival, people are still pointing fingers at the outdoor concert venue for excessive noise that left residents awake and angry during "the infamous weekend."
During the festival on May 30 and 31, Columbia and Ellicott City residents scrambled for an answer to the loud noise levels emanating from Merriweather despite the 2013 legislation requiring concerts to operate at 95 decibels within a quarter-mile radius from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m and noise staying at a 72.5 decibel level at residential property lines outside that radius.
The discussion continued at the Town Center Community Association's village board meeting on June 11 at Historic Oakland Manor in Columbia, where Wilde Lake and Oakland Mills residents shared their frustration.
"The noise has driven me crazy," 36-year Wilde Lake resident Jane Winer said to the village board. "I pay for [all my fees] in this community. I'm entitled to live in my house free of the garbage noise. Noise is the greatest offense and has ruined the concept of Columbia."
Having lived in Columbia for 30 years, Oakland Mills resident Rob Lance said the noise levels from Merriweather have become intense over the past few years.
"Even when I was back in my 20s, I would go to concerts there and it wasn't that loud," Lance said. "What kind of equipment are they using? I think people have just thrown their hands up. We're up against the corporation."
While several local residents, including Winer and Lance, said the noise was at its peak around 10 p.m. on May 31 during Calvin Harris' main stage performance, the Columbia venue staff could not confirm the DJ was responsible.
"With all of the complaints, we took a good look at everything, and I think we've learned a few things that will help in the future," spokeswoman Audrey Fix Schaefer said in an email on June 12. "Actually, we've heard from neighbors that things have gotten better with the shows this week."
One neighbor, Vantage Point resident Dylan Goldberg, said he actually never had a problem with Merriweather concerts since he's lived in the area for the past three years. Instead, during the Sweetlife Festival, Goldberg sat on the porch behind his home and listened to the music free of charge.
"[Calvin Harris] was one of those performances where I knew I wanted to be hanging out in my backyard because he's one of the world's most famous DJs right now," Goldberg said. "It's pretty cool just to hear him perform very clearly from my backyard."
Between 8 and 11 p.m. that night, Goldberg said he could hear the music but that it was "pretty much at the same volume that I hear every concert at Merriweather."
"You could definitely feel the bass, but it was nothing to the point where I could look at my glass windows or a picture and see them vibrating or moving," he said. "I could hear the bass, but it was nothing that I could feel."
Although Town Center village board member Helen Ruther described the noise levels as "the heartbeat of the millennials," Goldberg said his Merriweather concert experiences consist mainly of adults, who he said were attracted by the energy the venue brings to the community; an energy residents of all ages should embrace.
"We should be so lucky that this problem is our problem," Goldberg said. "It's not gunshots that keep you up. It's not sirens keeping you up. It's a huge economic generator for the area that's keeping you up. It's very limited in how often it happens each time of the year and look what it does for your community."
With many residents' concerns continuing to grow, Town Center village board members agreed to send a letter to the state delegation, Columbia Association and County Council to revisit the 2013 legislation.
Schaefer said Merriweather will continue to improve and bring the experience people expect.