SURREY (NEWS 1130) – A Surrey DJ says the province’s order to close banquet halls is the latest challenge for people in his industry, and he believes there is a way to stop these facilities amid COVID-19 safe to operate.
Harp Sohal, who owns the Aftershock Roadshow, says his business is focused on weddings and the 50-person limit for gatherings has already cost him.
“When we book our clients, we book them a DJ, but we also book them a production package that includes TVs, effects, and so on,” he explains.
“Now the time has come that people don’t want to book the production site anymore, they just want to have a DJ and keep it simple so that we somehow lose.”
Even so, banquet halls have booked DJs for smaller weddings, and Sohal doesn’t think they need to close.
“I understand nightclubs, you can’t control that because there are a lot of young people in there and they all get drunk and don’t follow instructions,” he says.
“But when it comes to banquet halls, I mean it’s a completely different environment than a nightclub, which is an older generation mixed with young people and you don’t have to serve alcohol at all. There are so many ways we can do this work. ”
Sohal and the people he works with can work with clients to reschedule bookings, while internal DJs tied to a specific venue don’t have that option.
But outdoor venues, hotels, and golf courses are no substitutes for banquet halls when it comes to the wedding industry.
“The weather won’t be so good for the next few months so there have to be venues, there has to be something that customers can use to get married and even have a small gathering. That’s what banquet halls offer, ”he says.
“I have a feeling it can work, but there are obviously limitations that need to be put in place. I just hope everyone in the wedding industry can get together and find out, and so does the government. ”