County of Brant Council once again discussed the future of Paris Drinks Fest during its regular council meeting on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.
After officially being denied a Noise Control By-law exemption back in December, Tim Des Islets, President of Noisemaker Presents Inc. and the founder of Paris Drinks Fest, made one last appeal to Council, stating that he was willing to compromise to make the event happen.
The 19-plus Paris Drinks Fest was first held in 2018 as a one-day event, and has since grown into a two-day festival designed to celebrate food and drinks from across southern Ontario.
While it was originally held in Paris Lions Park, it was moved in 2024 to Two Rivers Stadium at the Syl Apps Community Centre because of flooding.
Despite many councillors’ support for the event, the noise exemption for 2026 was first denied over concerns that the venue may not be the most suitable location, citing the impact on neighbours in regards to sound, littering, public intoxication, loitering and the sheer size of the event.
While some councillors had suggested that the Paris Fairgrounds would be a more ideal location to host the event, the Paris Agricultural Society (PAS) released a statement on Thursday, January 8, explaining why it wouldn’t be possible.
“As a charitable, non-profit organization, PAS privately owns and operates the Paris Fairgrounds. Our mandate is focused on agriculture, community engagement, and long-term sustainability. A key part of this mandate is our licensed bar and beer garden operation, which functions as a primary fundraiser,” explained PAS. “Revenue from these operations is reinvested directly into maintaining our facilities and delivering community programming. To protect this model, PAS maintains a long-standing and consistently applied policy: renters of the Paris Fairgrounds may not obtain their own Special Occasion Permit (SOP) from the AGCO. All alcohol service on-site must be managed under PAS’s liquor licence.”
“Paris Drinks Fest is, by design, a tasting-based event that requires participating vendors to serve and sample alcoholic products under an external SOP framework,” the PAS continued. “This structure is fundamentally incompatible with PAS policy and licensing. Accommodating a tasting event of this nature would require an exception that would compromise our licensing model, our fundraising operations, and our responsibilities as a charitable organization.”
With the Fairgrounds not being a viable option, and Des Islets and his team stating that they’ve been unable to find another suitable location, the organizer once again approached Council this past Tuesday.
During his delegation, the organizer expressed his appreciation for the support Paris Drinks Fest has received since December, including the continued endorsement of Councillors Jennifer Kyle, John MacAlpine and Lukas Oakley; a statement from Pennylane Ritchie of the Downtown Paris BIA regarding the festival’s importance to local businesses; written support from the Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA); the petition led by Moira Kenyon, which garnered nearly 2,000 signatures; the residents who wrote letters of endorsement to their local representatives; and Councillor Steve Howes’ outreach to discuss potential options moving forward.
He then went on to say that although he and his team have heard from several municipalities saying they would be happy to welcome the event, they were determined to keep it in Paris.
“I’m here to show my commitment to finding solutions,” Des Islets told Council. “That’s the whole thing that we’ve been trying to do over the last few months, is just find solutions to save this event and be allowed to present it here. I want to avoid issuing a statement that says we weren’t able to do that.”
Having originally applied for the exemption under Section 7 of the County’s Noise Control By-law, Des Islets said he was now requesting one through Section 6, which would permit the event as long as certain conditions for noise management were met.
The organizer then went on to present a list of compromises Noisemaker was willing to make to secure the permit, including adjusting the time amplified music would end during the event.
“In previous years, amplified music has ended at 11 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday evenings. In conversations with Councillor Howes, I’m happy to agree to having amplified music end at 10:45 p.m. on Friday, August 14, and 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 15,” said Des Islets. “I know this might not seem like a large adjustment to some, but moving our event and end times earlier than the industry standard for other local events, creates an issue of value of what we’re offering to attendees. It reduces the impact on the businesses who are vendors at the event and serving food and drinks, and it requires us to take paid performance opportunities away from Canadian artists, which goes against everything I’ve done in my career for the past 15 years.”
Addressing some residents’ concerns over four days being included in the revised request for a noise exemption permit, Des Islets stressed it did not mean the event would be four days long.
“We’ve always included a setup day on the Thursday in our noise exemption permit, and a teardown day on the Sunday,” he explained. “We erect the stage and production on Thursday, and occasionally we do need to test speakers and equipment that day. The stage and all the sound equipment are actually removed from the Festival event after we close the gates on Saturday evening, so there’s nothing physically left on site to actually amplify music on the Sunday. We include these days in our noise exemption permit just in the off chance something comes up and there’s excess noise from anything including vehicles and machines removing the supplies on site.”
Des Islets also added that he and his team recently met with their production suppliers to discuss solutions regarding their sound equipment.
“The rental company is going to provide us with less powerful PA speakers, which are not capable of projecting sound as far as they have in the past years,” he said. “These are smaller box units where, even if you turn them all the way up, you just can’t project the noise as far as in recent years. This also allows the sound to dissipate quicker before it reaches the perimeter, especially at 80 Willow St., while maintaining sound levels at the point of origination, which is the stage.”
While the organizers typically position their speakers over the audience’s head, this year they intend to point them at the front of the audience so the sound won’t travel as far.
“And of course, we’re going to continue to monitor the sound levels from both the point of origination and the perimeter throughout the event at all times, as we have in the past,” continued Des Islets. “I know, noise levels at previous events have been within our County of Brant noise exemption permit guidelines, and we have never once violated or operated outside of those terms; we worked closely with County staff last summer to monitor those requirements, we kept volume levels below a mutually agreed upon industry standard, and we followed those requirements diligently because we understand it’s important to everybody on site, as well as the people that decide not to come.”
He added that while they’re also looking to redirect which way the stage faces the property, there is a lot to consider given that repositioning it could potentially impact how emergency vehicles would be able to access the site.
Following the delegation, Council had the opportunity to ask Des Islets further questions about his plans for noise management.
Councillor John Bell specifically wondered whether the organizers could ensure that the sound at the perimeter would not go above 65 decibels and if there was any way to livestream that monitoring for the public.
In response, Des Islets stated that no livestreaming device exists and that he could not fully control sound levels beyond the stage, though he would try to do everything he possibly could to mitigate the noise from the front of house.
“Last year we were within 65 to 75 decibels, but that does change depending on things like wind, precipitation, the number of people, and the new production specs, so I can’t guarantee what that dissipation is based on natural occurrences,” he said. “…I will say that I’m happy to work with a level at the point of origination, …but there are natural effects on sound that I can’t monitor. …I can’t control the level at the perimeter because I don’t have sound consoles there. I can have measurement tools there, but there isn’t a volume switch on a fence that I can turn down. It’s affected by the level of point of origination, and that’s where we can control it from.”
Des Islets also brought up several times that the County of Brant’s Noise Exemption By-law does not currently specify an acceptable noise limit, but that he would be willing to work with staff to determine what it should be going forward.
“As of now, there is no level,” he said. “If we’re granting a noise exemption permit tonight, that should be written into permit guidelines moving forward, but as of now, we’re following exactly what is required of us in our noise exemption permit.”
There were some later discussions in regards to security, loitering, littering and how people leave the venue, and Des Islets stressed that he and his team have always tried to do everything in their power to ensure those things aren’t an issue.
Every resident in the area is given a phone number to reach the Noisemaker team during the event, but they need to be aware of those situations as they’re happening, not several days after the event has ended, he said.
Councillor Steve Howes, who had previously maintained his position about Syl Apps not being a suitable location, then moved a resolution to approve the noise exemption permit for 2026.
Part of the conditions within the resolution were as follows:
- That the volume of the music be turned down and remained down to a level deemed appropriate by authorized staff should any complaints be received, and
- That the applicant takes measures to minimize any unnecessary noise, including but not limited to, directing speakers away from residential properties where possible, monitoring the volume and bass to a level at the point of the nearest residential properties.
Bell later moved an amendment requiring that the stage be oriented so that noise is directed away from nearby residences, that a 75 dBA sound limit be applied at the perimeter of the venue, that noise levels at the perimeter be monitored and reduced if the limit is exceeded, and that these levels be made available to the public in real time.
Each clause of the amendment was eventually separated for a vote, all of which ultimately failed.
The vote on whether to grant a noise exemption permit for the 2026 Paris Drinks Fest at Two River Stadium was then approved 9-1, noting that Councilor Bell voted in opposition.
In a post made to the Paris Drinks Fest Facebook page on Wednesday, January 14, organizers thanked Council for their decision.
“We also sincerely thank Councillors Kyle, MacAlpine, and Oakley for their continued support, as well as the Mayor and Councillors Howes, Peirce, Chambers, Miller, and Coleman, who listened to the voices of the communities they represent. To everyone who advocated, shared, showed up, and believed in this festival, we cannot thank you enough.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
