WILDWOOD — A spat between a mayor and a wedding venue is disrupting the peace found in the hilly, picturesque land where Wildwood meets Franklin County.
What started as a noise complaint by Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin has blossomed into dueling public accounts of how and why the mayor confronted attendees about loud music during a wedding reception this past weekend.
Bowlin said noise from the venue is an issue for residents — like him — who live in nearby houses throughout the hills. The venue says Bowlin’s complaint is unfounded and he caused a scene during the reception’s dinner hour.
On Saturday evening, Bowlin went to the venue to address concerns about loud music, which he said violated Wildwood’s noise ordinance. The mayor said he quietly waited in the vestibule to talk to someone about the music’s volume, likening it to a rock concert that shook the ground; Silver Oaks Chateau owner Ron Tate said Bowlin yelled and disturbed around 50 guests, and the music was at an appropriate level.
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Silver Oaks employee Alyssa Ringkamp was at the reception as a guest and told the Post-Dispatch she was stunned at how aggressive Bowlin acted.
“I pulled him to the side and said, ‘Can I help you?’ and he just started yelling about how the music was too loud … (and) it was reverberating throughout the hills,” she said, noting he showed up to the formal event in shorts and a windbreaker looking “very disheveled.”
Tate wrote in an email to Wildwood City Council members that Bowlin stormed into the indoor balcony, which overlooks the main reception area during dinner, then touched a woman on her bare shoulder to get her attention. Tate asked council members to take action in response to the mayor’s behavior.
Bowlin, in response to the email sent to council members, denied Tate’s account. He told the Post-Dispatch he waited in the foyer to talk to someone about the music’s volume, and he said he never touched a woman.
Tate’s venue is just under half-mile east of the county line in Franklin County. Bowlin’s subdivision is on the other side of the line, in St. Louis County.
Bowlin has been Wildwood’s mayor since 2016, and before he was elected he publicly opposed the construction of Silver Oaks nine years ago because the area is residential. He is also the president of the Meadow Forest Estates Subdivision, one of two subdivisions near the venue.
Bowlin told the Post-Dispatch he was representing residents when he complained about the noise that was “readily audible from well over a mile away.”
Four of Bowlin’s neighbors told a reporter they never hear noise coming from Silver Oaks and didn’t recall hearing anything Saturday night, either.
One of the venue’s closest neighbors, a couple who has lived in their home for 42 years and asked not to be named, said they hear more noise coming from the two nearby subdivisions than the wedding venue.
“I think I had one (resident call). Maybe, I mean, I didn’t, the phone wasn’t, you know, really ringing off the hook,” Bowlin said. “But I think I may have had one (resident). There wouldn’t have been any more than that.”
Bowlin said he believed the hills and various altitudes of the home could factor into who can hear what.
The back of the venue, which includes a patio, deck and an area to hold wedding ceremonies, faces southeast toward those hills — a design Tate said was intentional to direct noise away from nearby residences.
Bowlin noted in his email that under Missouri law, municipalities can enforce their nuisance ordinances against loud noise within one mile of their borders.
“I had two options: The option I chose, which was to personally let you know about it, or advise the authorities,” Bowlin wrote to Tate. “I chose the former because I believed it to be a more neighborly way to address the situation.”
The mayor wrote he did not scream but had to raise his voice when speaking to someone at the venue because of the loud music.
“In any event, please note that it was not my intention to interfere with the event being held at your venue,” Bowlin wrote.
Tate also claimed Bowlin has a history of harassing the venue via email.
“What he did Saturday night was completely out of line,” he wrote.
The mayor said he did not know what past harassment Tate was referring to and believed this was the first time he reached out about a noise complaint, and if he had reached out he said it “would have been quite some time ago.”
There are multiple security cameras in the foyer of the venue, but Tate said the business’ lawyer has instructed them not to release the footage.
The Post-Dispatch reached out to all 16 Wildwood council members for comment on Tate’s email. Fourteen did not immediately respond, and two declined to comment.
Still another of Bowlin’s neighbors had a different take: He said he never hears anything from Silver Oaks, but he noted that noise from the newly opened Westwind Hills, a wedding venue slightly closer to their homes, can be heard — and felt — for hours.
But when asked, Bowlin said he was absolutely sure the noise he heard came from Silver Oaks.
“We just want him to leave us alone,” Tate said.
