ARVADA, Colo. -- Less than a week after RTD stopped train testing at night on the G Line, the operator continues testing right on through the town's annual Harvest Festival.
It’s an issue irking the community yet again.
"I'm going to have to go to a hearing doctor," said festival vendor Donna Clark with Re-Imagine Jewelry.
“And that's just how it goes,” said vendor Sarah Turley as a train horn blew. Turley’s family owns and operates Holland Concessions, which sells turkey legs and funnel cakes.
"You can't talk to anyone,” Clark said. “You can't interact with your customers."
Clark says there’s no question business and attendance is suffering this year because of the train horns.
"People that have been here for an hour are getting pretty darn tired of it,” Clark said. “They're ready to go home. So, yeah, I think everybody is going to suffer because of it, because people aren't going to stay near as long as they would normally."
The noise can be deafening at times, and despite the festival - which happens only once a year - RTD has decided to continue testing right on through it.
It’s an issue that has infuriated neighbors for weeks now.
"The nighttime is totally ridiculous,” Clark said. “People have to sleep. They have jobs. They have to go to work."
Adding insult to injury, Clark says the City of Arvada and festival organizers didn't tell booth owners anything about the horn noise.
"We paid a lot of money to be here,” Clark said. “They didn't have the courtesy to tell us that we were going to be dealing with this kind of noise behind us on a constant basis."
A festival spokeswoman said they’ve had no direct complaints, but would be happy to work with frustrated vendors on an appropriate resolution.
In a statement sent late Saturday evening, RTD spokesperson Scott Reed told Denver7 the transportation district cannot further reduce the testing schedule.
"We cannot further reduce the contractor’s testing schedule. We just reduced it about 10 days ago from the previous 3:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. down to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The contractor Denver Transit Partners has to complete consecutive days of testing according to contractual requirements and before we can apply for quiet zones."
