Noise Prompts Soglin to Close Mall Festival

This article, "Noise Prompts Soglin to Close Mall Festival" was published in Wisconsin State Journal, October 11, 1974, in Madison, Wisconsin.

By PATRICK B. BARR Of The State Journal Staff 

Mayor Paul Soglin acted upon telephone complaints Thursday afternoon to put a premature end to what should have been a day-long Hare Krishna festival on the State St. mall. 

He previously had endorsed the festival of the Chicago-based group of Bhakti yogis, as well as loaded them the city's showmobile. However, he instructed the Police Dept. at 2:30 p.m. to close down the festival which began at 9:15 a.m. 

This not only put a stop to the festival but to the hope of the yogis that Soglin would visit and chant along with them.

Cindy Baker of the mayor's office said telephone complaints trickled into the office before noon, but increased after the lunch hour. Calls came in from students, and workers, she said, complaining about the noise from the amplifying system. 

She said that rock groups that played at the same location in the past did so during the lunch hour and as a result did not disturb anyone. 

It was one of a series of festivals at major college campuses throughout the Midwest intended by the painted-faced devotees of His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to spread Krishna consciousness.

Earlier in the day, with the showmobile and 42-foot multi-colored tent from Mayapura, India, as a backdrop, members of the group engaged in chanting and meditation. 

Kailasa Chandra Dasa, festival organizer, explained that the goal of the festival was to try to awaken knowledge in people of their true existence. He said no one can understand the philosophy unless they perform pious activities in the code of goodness which will produce positive effects to both giver and receiver. 

Yellow, white, and pink daisies, and prasadam (round, vegetarian, sanctified food which had been offered to Lord Krishna) were handed out to by-standers and passersby alike. Long multi-colored chains of carnations were strung on the ground in front of the showmobile. 

Devotees moved throughout the crowd offering books for sale and explaining their movement. 

The group of 40 (including women) came to Madison in their two vans earlier this week and gave presentations at St. Francis House and Nottingham Co-op. They will leave the city today for the Kishora-Kishori temple in Evanston, III., where most of them live. 

Photo: The harmonium (an organ-like musical instrument), foreground, and Mrdanga drums weren't harmonious on State St. -State Journal Photo by Edwin Stein