Tempe’s Shady Park cutting back on live performances after new court ruling

TEMPE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - The Maricopa County Superior Court announced today that the Shady Park concert venue has been a nuisance to the surrounding community and will need to lower its noise levels and restrict live musical performance hours.

The news is tough to digest for locals like Arizona DJ Bijou (Ben Dorman). “It’s home, you know?” Bijou said. “It’s one of my favorite places to play. And I know artists from out of the country, out of the state look forward to coming here.”

After the court’s ruling, the venue will only allow live musical performances between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. and between 2 to 7 p.m. on Sundays. “That’s just now how the shows work, you know?” Bijou said. “And if we’re going to do shows, we want to do them the right way, with sound at the proper level and the proper times.

In a statement to Arizona’s Family, Shady Park owner Scott Price called the court ruling devastating news and said he’ll be appealing the decision immediately.

With these new rules, Price also says Shady Park won’t be able to host live musical events anymore. That’s something that Arizona resident Christopher Mayeda has a hard time accepting. “That’s why I would go is for the music,” Mayeda said. “If they take the music away, it’s just ramen.”

The court’s ruling wraps up nearly a year of animosity between the two neighboring businesses. Mirabella started operating during the pandemic when concerts weren’t happening at Shady Park. As soon as they did begin in June of last year, the complaints followed. Eventually, a lawsuit was filed by Mirabella last November, where they called Shady Park a public and private nuisance.

“I feel like they should have known that there was going to be a lot of noise,” Mayeda said. “Like ASU is right there.”

An attorney for Mirabella residents said in a statement that the residents never sought a fight with Shady Park and that they just wanted to be able to sleep and enjoy their homes. While the court’s ruling found that Shady Park’s excessive noise impacts Mirabella residents and the surrounding community at large, Bijou wonders if the lack of live music at the venue will have an even greater impact.

“It hurts a lot of people,” he said. “And I think it hurts a lot more people than those at Mirabella and ASU really know.”

Bijou says that he doesn’t have much motivation to keep coming to Shady Park without live music. “Definitely not,” Bijou said. “Which is unfortunate because I love this place.”

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