Lavish weekend party in quiet B.C. village has residents, officials fearing future events

For a community often described as quiet and sleepy, the village of Anmore, B.C., population 2,210, was anything but last weekend.

Residents were taken aback when they started hearing loud music and seeing luxury cars and limousines descend upon a mansion on a normally quiet street last Saturday.

They were also surprised to hear not one, but three helicopters taking off from and landing at the property.

Video from the party posted on social media shows one of the aircraft landing in the mansion's backyard, only a few metres away from a crowd of people.

The party was located about a kilometre away from the home of Anmore Mayor John McEwen.

"This is a pretty tranquil, quiet community ... then the phone calls started coming ... my neighbour's got helicopters landing in their backyard," he said.

"To have these exotic cars racing up and down the street; this is a street where kids play road hockey and throw the frisbee around, so it's very concerning to us."

Booze, models, luxury cars

The party was promoted as a networking event for models, realtors and fitness buffs, by a company called Public Relations Canada.

It was extensively documented on Instagram by organizer Justin Plosz, who said in a post that more than 300 people attended, and that thousands of cans of beer and more than 500 ounces of whiskey had been consumed.

McEwen says police attended the event for a report of a drug overdose but were not able to shut down the party.

He says Anmore council will be looking into their report and what actions the city can take, but said the party speaks to a bigger issue.

"The problem here ... is the fellow who owns this house is an offshore investor," McEwen said.

"He has purchased two or three houses up here in Anmore, rents them out to an agency, and there isn't vetting going on to who's renting these."

Rumours of follow-up party

Neil Belenkie, mayor of the neighbouring village of Belcarra, has heard talk of the organizer planning a second party on a waterfront property in his community, although he is skeptical of its feasibility.

"If they want to have this done outside of the constraints of existing bylaws, no matter what, it will have to be done safely and it will have to be done respectfully," he said.

Belenkie said he is willing to work with organizers if they are able to pay for the proper permits.

"There's an awful lot of tolerance that comes with a $500,000 permit or a million-dollar permit, if they want us to help being able to set up, for example, a helicopter barge," he added.

CBC has reached out to the party organizers for comment.