County has ‘thwarted’ illegal commercial house parties this summer, Elrich says

Officials share concerns about safety at events

July 13, 2024 12:15 p.m.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) says the county has successfully “thwarted” efforts by groups to host large pay-for-play commercial parties at houses within the county over the past couple of weeks–following a viral and illegal “Wet Dreams” pool party held over Memorial Day weekend in Potomac.

“We know that our efforts forced the organizers to relocate the planned parties out of Montgomery County,” Elrich said Wednesday during a press briefing.

The “Wet Dreams” party drew about 1,000 people, according to local officials. Advertised on social media and Eventbrite as a “mansion pool party,” attendees were able to purchase cabanas with liquor bottle service and hookah for between $1,000 and $2,000, depending on the number of people in their group and choice of liquor. Residents have reported similar events in other areas of the county over the past couple of months, including in Gaithersburg.

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Elrich said the county government has identified houses that have been used for multiple commercial parties and is working across departments to respond quickly to potential illegal activity including noise violations, capacity issues and parking hazards as well as selling alcohol without a permit.

“These safeguards are in place to ensure people’s safety. These parties could become dangerous to partygoers and people living nearby,” Elrich said.

He said the county has formed a team to respond to commercial parties that pop up that are not on the county’s radar. However, Elrich said it’s important to note that it is not the county police department’s job to break up parties unless there is criminal activity. He said most violations at these parties have been civil in nature and do not warrant arresting people.

At a July 3 press briefing, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard said the response team partnership includes public safety agencies, permitting services for commercial activity, environmental protection for noise violations, health and human services for unlicensed food distribution and state agencies that control substance distribution.

“We can see where there are dates and times listed and you obviously have to know the super-secret handshake to be able to get tickets, so we’re sort of monitoring when those events are going to be,” Stoddard said of parties that have been promoted on social media.

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Elrich said Wednesday that he’s heard there is the potential for legislation that would legalize these parties, which he would oppose.

“I am not in support of any bill that legalizes this. This is not fair to neighbors, not fair to communities, not fair to people trying to drive down the road and expect normal, safe conditions,” Elrich said. “And that would put an enormous burden on our department to have to police these events, if anybody was allowed to do them.”

Del. Linda Foley (D-Dist. 15), who lives in and represents Potomac, told MoCo360 in May that she is very concerned about such parties and wants to “nip it in the bud.” She’s considering what potential legislation she could propose to the General Assembly during next year’s session that would prevent these events.

“I want to figure out how to stop parties like this from happening without impacting, for example, people who want to have a wedding at the house, they should be able to do that–or if they want to have a fundraiser,” Foley said. “But something like this is out of hand.”

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