Nearly turned down a year ago because of problems with size, noise and accountability, the eighth annual Brazilian Day Festival in Pacific Beach scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 13 was nixed this year by the PB Special Events Committee.
That decision has been appealed to the city, which will have the final say on whether or not the carnival-style parade with vibrant floats, extravagant costumes and energetic music, will be a go in PB or not this year.
The popular four-hour Sunday festival features non-stop entertainment on two stages, including musical bands, dance ensembles, a food court, a vendor’s exhibition and a kids’ zone.
“The Pacific Beach Special Events Committee is solely an advisory group,” noted committee chair Debbie Conca.  “Groups wanting to have an event in Pacific Beach are asked by the city to come to this group and present the logistics and details. This group denied the Brazilian Day Festival 5-2. The city can still approve or deny a permit with or without the endorsement of the Pacific Beach Special Events Committee.”   
Brazilian Day spokesman Paulo Batuta was taken aback by the special events committee’s denial of the event, insisting his group has played by the rules and taken the community’s concerns about noise and other issues to heart.
“We have documentation that shows we’ve addressed all issues and fixed pretty much everything,” Batuta said, noting parade organizers, in a partnership with PB Middle School, have also secured use of the school’s huge parking lot to handle event parking needs.
Batuta said concerns about noise from live bands on stage was addressed by “pointing speakers down and turning them toward the street” to muffle noise.
Previously, residents near the event had complained there was no one available to contact to register concerns that could be addressed on event day.
“This time we have two phone numbers available to them,” Batuta said, adding private security, as well as police, will be on hand for crowd control.
“We didn’t get any phone calls last year,” Batuta said. “Nobody complained about the noise.”
Batuta said a survey was sent out recently that showed 25 percent of those attending Brazilian Day live in PB.
“PB is our community, our little Brazil, we are home,” Batuta said. “That’s why it’s held in PB.”
Pointing out Brazilian Day is alcohol-free and family friendly, Batuta argued that the event serves the community by “bringing business to PB, not just on this one day but all year.”
“We’re part of this community,” said Batuta. “So there’s no reason to kick us out.”
PB Special Events Committee member Michael Wagner noted several reasons why Brazil Day was not supported this year:
• It’s grown in size from 5,000 to 50,000-plus and their website notes 60,000 are expected this year, even though at the committee meeting it was stated that “30,000” were expected.
• The noise/bands have been a sore point for many years. Although they allege they have a “complaint phone number,” it has either no one to answer or no one to actually follow up on the complaints.
• Streets for several blocks on each side of Garnet Avenue are packed and everything from churches to businesses have complained about parking.
• Several businesses have alleged trash is left everywhere in front of their stores, people have blocked the businesses, and the event has more than 100 vendors, none of which are from PB. Several bars have complained that the day of the event is the first day of football, and they expect people coming into their places, but the event takes up the sidewalk and parking.
• The committee expects some profit returned to the community. This event supports some group that has its office outside of PB and gives the proceeds to Brazilian groups outside of PB. No PB school/community group is in the parade or has a spot in the event. PB is not benefiting in anyway.
Eve Anderson of the Pacific Beach Planning Group, noted the community has been having problems with events, like Brazilian Day, outgrowing the capacity of the community to deal with noise, parking and other problems associated with them. She said it dates back to the old PB “block party,” which simply got to be too big and unwieldy to cope with any longer.
“A lot of us live here, a lot of us support businesses all over PB – but we all don’t take over the street,” Anderson said, noting the event itself, “if it were half the size and put on by a group affiliated with PB, then it might be OK.” But she noted the Brazilian group has been reluctant to move it off Garnet Avenue (the heart of town) or to a non-warm weather time of year (to reduce crowds).
“It’s just time for it (Brazilian Day) to move,” Anderson concluded.