The Rangeelu Gujarat festival will be held at Roe Green Park in Kingsbury next month after Red Lotus Events Brent Council’s alcohol and entertainment licensing sub-committee granted them a licence.
The event will take place from Friday, September 5 to Sunday, September 7, where it will use art, music, and dance to “bring people together as a community”.
Residents and councillors had warned of the potential for the noise to disturb neighbours and students at the nearby Kingsbury High School. However, the organisers have agreed to start the acts later on the Friday to ensure that students are disturbed as little as possible and made assurances that noise levels will not exceed an agreed 65 decibels.
Red Lotus Events creative director Mira Salat told the committee that they “have empathy for the neighbours” who may feel some disturbance during the festival but said the three days “will create so much more joy” than that.
She said: “We would, with open arms, welcome everyone to the festival. There is so much to do there and so much to learn from, we are sure everyone would really enjoy it.”
Brent is home to London’s largest Gujarati community, with a majority of the borough identifying as Gujarat as well as many in neighbouring Harrow.
But Ms Salat said that there is “still a lack of understanding within the community about what their cultural identity is” and the festival hopes to share that by bringing people together through art, music and dance.
Ms Salat said: “It’s a wonderful community event that brings together multiple generations – we have great grandmothers with their grandchildren – that are learning languages and sharing it with their neighbours. It’s creating diversity, understanding and more cultural awareness.
“It is the most beautiful festival when you see people of different backgrounds coming together to enjoy something.
“There’s nothing else of its sort, there is no Indian festival out there that is not based on religion. This is the only non-religious Indian event that’s available to a lot of people of all different backgrounds.”
As well as the strict requirement to keep the noise below the 65 decibel level, the committee also attached a condition requiring someone to be on hand at all times to answer the phone to any residents who may wish to voice grievances. There will also be 50 security personnel on site at all times.
Councillors did question why the organisers had left it so late to make the application for the festival, which is set to take place in just over three weeks, but Ms Salat said they had to make sure the funding was fully in place. She said: “We didn’t want to notify anyone and then not be able to facilitate the festival”.
Tickets are set to cost £8, or £6 if purchased online ahead of the event, with between 3,000 and 4,000 attendees expected on the site at any given time. Red Lotus Events is a not-for-profit organisation so all the money raised goes towards hosting the festival.
There will be a range of stalls, including art and handicrafts representing the different regions, as well as food and refreshment stalls that mimic “the authentic taste of the various cultures of the state” – featuring vegetarian food from local businesses, with no alcohol provided. A stage will host the music, dance and comedy performers.
