Many will remember the sensation surrounding last October’s Desert Daze “outsider” rock music fest at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center. From the estimated 2,000 mostly non-local concert-goers the three-day event received two thumbs up. But from sleep-deprived neighbors and others angered by the unpermitted clearing of desert for parking at Highway 62 and Yucca Mesa Road, the event got two thumbs down. Earlier this month, the Retreat Center, also known as Mentalphysics, applied for a Desert Daze encore performance this October. Reporter Mike Lipsitz has more…
The County Department of Land Use Services has denied a permit for a second Desert Daze music festival that promoters had planned for four days beginning October 12, 2017. Citing too many attendees and excessive noise at last year’s event, the County rejected this year’s application. Last year the amplified sound from three stages of guitar, drum and bass could be heard as far as four miles away prompting multiple noise complaints to the County’s Planning Division and Sheriff’s Department. The event’s promoter had until this past Friday to appeal the decision, but that deadline passed without any such appeal.
But Gerard Noonan, Director of Business Development and sitting board member at the non-profit Joshua Tree Retreat Center, suggested this may not be the end for Desert Daze here. Noonan said last year was a learning experience for the venue and said there remains the possibility a smaller, more controlled festival sensitive to local needs could attain County approval.
Noonan also said that last year’s Desert Daze festival, and the Childish Gambino concert two weeks prior, pumped an estimated $4 million into the local economy. Figures such as those tend to get attention.
COUNTY DENIES PERMIT FOR MAJOR CONCERT AT JOSHUA TREE RETREAT CENTER
