The planners of the next Isla Vista First Friday event, scheduled for April 3, are exploring different ways to host the monthly program to get around a recently approved county noise ordinance in effect during the first two weekends of April aimed at controlling Deltopia.

I.V. First Friday planners were initially organizing a larger-than-average version of the event with multiple stages but ran into issues once Santa Barbara County approved noise ordinances during the first two weekends of April in order to prevent this year’s Deltopia from becoming disorderly. I.V. First Friday is coordinated by I.V. Open Lab, a project-based course offered by the university’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center and sponsored by the I.V. Recreation and Parks District (IVRPD) and the I.V. Food Co-Op. The event is hosted as a late-night alternative to what many students call the “I.V. party scene,” and is held the first Friday of every month at Perfect Park, featuring live local music, artwork, improvisation and dance performances and more.

According to IVRPD General Manager Rodney Gould, the original plan for the First Friday on April 3 was to have a number of groups and organizations co-host a block party that would have been larger than most First Fridays to date.

“We were actually considering fencing off the entire end of the loop and having multiple stages with varying forms of entertainment operating simultaneously,” Gould said in an email. “Before we got very far into the planning, we realized we couldn’t proceed due to the festival ordinance that was put into place for Deltopia.”

Gould said the original proposal for I.V. First Friday was suggested in anticipation of the influx of people expected to come to I.V. during Deltopia weekend, which attracted an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 partygoers in last April.

“We figured that there would be a lot of people in town that night,” Gould said in an email. “The University has planned a lot of things Saturday as alternatives, but there was nothing on Friday, so we thought this might take some of the burden off the Del Playa partying.”

Gould said I.V. Open Lab is now exploring the possibility of having an art show in the early evening of April 3 at the I.V. Clinic building that would feature I.V.’s “hidden art community.”

“There’s a lot of resident artists in Isla Vista that people just don’t know about that have been here for years, so we thought it would be kind of fun to showcase that,” Gould said.

I.V. Open Lab instructor and spatial art professor Kim Yasuda said the students of I.V. Open Lab are also discussing organizing a silent movie series and a silent disco, though the plans for the First Friday to be held on April 3 are still dependent on approval from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.

“We’re trying to figure out a mellow, outdoor lounge-like event for that Friday,” Yasuda said. “We also want it to be local, so that’s why we’re showcasing the resident artists’ artwork. The visual display is quiet, the disco is quiet and then we thought about silent movies.”

Second-year English major and I.V. Open Lab student Itxy Quintanilla said it was disappointing to learn the initial plans for the First Friday on April 3 could not be executed.

“We are saving those plans for a future month,” Quintanilla said in an email. “We understand the reason for the implementation of these ordinances, but it has been difficult to work around them.”

Quintanilla said she is hopeful the newly proposed events will be approved by Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.

“After throwing around several ideas and discussing the ordinances, we hope that our movie in the park proposal will meet the guidelines and provide a safe and engaging community gathering,” Quintanilla said in an email. “Hopefully our plans are approved in order to create another successful event.”

Yasuda said the collaboration between students, faculty, residents and local businesses is what makes First Fridays special, and she hopes the First Friday scheduled for the night of April 3 can still take place.

“We want it to happen and we think it’s going to be great and attract the right kind of people,” Yasuda said. “We feel it is really important to have programming that is creative, safe and alternative, because if you have nothing, then that’s when the trouble starts.” Yasuda said.

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