Outdoor Navratri festival nixed for next year
103 noise complaints cited as reason festival must find new location
BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer

EDISON - Organizers for Edison's open-air Navratri festival will need to find a new venue next year. Responding to a large number of noise complaints from neighbors, Edison Township has declined to give its permission to hold the multiweekend cultural festival outdoors next year.

Navratri, a Hindu religious festival involving copious amounts of music and dance, had been celebrated outdoors on Meridian Road since 2006, according to township spokesman Jerry Barca. Last year, the Navratri festival, which literally means "nine nights," was held over the course of two weekends in October. This year, the revelry was held over three.

Barca said that his office alone had received 103 noise complaints from neighbors. In response, the township felt that it would be prudent to cancel the outdoor festival in the interests of preserving the quality of life for other residents. The organizers, the Edison Festival Association, will need to find a new location if they wish to continue to host the event.

"This administration no longer has an open-air night-time festival on Meridian Road. This is a quality-of-life issue for residents in the area and, quite simply, this venue does not work. To be clear, we're not canceling Navratri [in and of itself]," said Barca.

Ajay Patel, a member of the festival association, said they were still deciding what to do in the wake of the township's announcement. He said that they had worked hard to abide by the noise ordinance, through measures such as using a lower-powered sound system. Patel expressed disappointment with the decision, saying that other towns allow outdoor Navratri celebrations and that other organizations in Edison have outdoor festivals. He wondered whether his organization was being singled out.

Barca said this was not the case.

"We are a diverse community, and this administration is behind the celebration of that diversity, so this was never a case where it would be canceling someone's ability to celebrate their culture, entirely. This just doesn't work [due to] the amount of noise and quality-of-life issues it's become for neighborhood residents," said Barca.