There are plenty of bleary-eyed Surrey residents today after the RCMP was bombarded with complaint calls overnight about a huge wedding celebration that roared on into the wee hours of the morning.
The wedding of Punjabi singer-actor Parmish Verma and Geet Grewal, Liberal MP candidate for Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon in the last federal election, featured a full-on ferris wheel and a concert-worthy sound system that blasted bhangra beats that could be heard as far as 15 blocks away, past 2 a.m.
Ironically, a story published in the Times of India reports that “though Parmish and Geet are keeping their celebrations as low-key events only with close friends and family around, they are making sure to share some pictures from their special days as a treat for their followers on social media.”
Surrey RCMP Const. Sarbjit Sangha told the Now-Leader that city bylaws officers will be paying the newlyweds a visit today.
“The music was so loud, people were complaining, we had a lot of calls last night and I think bylaws are going to their residence today to issue them a whole bunch of fines,” she said.
A chopper was also heard flying overhead after the music died down.
“It might have been another news chopper,” Sangha said, “I don’t know if our Air 1 was up last night.”
Wow...a ferris wheel in the backyard! That's "low key" for sure! 🤦🏻♀️
— Yvonne Chiang (@YvonneChiang) October 20, 2021
Sounds like a covid super spreader event. Cool, cool, cool, cool.
— mbsunshine (@mbsunshine) October 20, 2021
Indian weddings are long overdue for a reckoning. https://t.co/oV3OHDeUdq
— Aman Loodu (@AmanLoodu) October 20, 2021
I was today years old when I learned you could rent a ferris wheel for your house. Now I have a new life goal. https://t.co/T85m4LkkQT
— Joey Hansen (@joeydhansen) October 20, 2021
It’s all good. There weren’t any political signs so bylaw enforcement Friday show up.
— Greg (@GregviiGreg) October 20, 2021
• CLICK HERE for more reactions and viewpoints from neighbours.
Bylaws and Mounties were on scene last night responding not only to noise complaints but complaints about vehicles being parked on the street, she added.
“A few vehicles were towed from the street as well.”
Sangha said the bylaws enforcement department is taking the lead on this.
“We’re letting bylaws deal with it and we’re supporting them, we are there with them, if they need assistance we will be there but bylaws is going to take the lead on this because it is more to do with other people’s enjoyment of the property and noise complaints are usually dealt with with the fines,” she said. “I know they are going to issue fines to the homeowners.”
As for the COVID-19 aspect, Cpl. Vanessa Munn told the Now-Leader recently that some Mounties on the COVID-19 Compliance and Enforcement Team (CCET) have gone back to their pre-pandemic duties.
“As they’re needed we can basically draw from that pool of people again,” she said. “There’s not much to enforce at this point.”
READ ALSO: B.C. to lift capacity limits for indoor ticketed, organized events as of Oct. 25
READ ALSO: COVID-19 outbreak at Surrey assisted-living facility triggers self-isolation of residents
Sangha said Wednesday that there are still Mounties on that team but “we will deploy them only if necessary.
“This has nothing to do with COVID so far, it’s just noise complaints that we’ve been dealing with,” she said. “We had a lot of calls for noise complaints but nobody said anything about how many people were inside. I think it wasn’t the people, it was the noise of the people that was the issue.”
Police received as many as 40 noise complaints related to the wedding celebration, which was held in Surrey’s Clayton Heights neighbourhood, in the area of 192 Street and about 78 Avenue.
“That’s excessive, and that’s why our members attended with bylaws and bylaws said they’d go in the morning, I think they didn’t want to deal with it last night.”
She said it was apparently difficult to contact the homeowners at that time.
“Other people still have to go to work, they’ve got to get up in the morning, so they need their sleep. And people have small children, they need to go to sleep, and so this is very inconsiderate of these people.”
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