City of Sedona staff said an upcoming spiritual event, called the 11-11-11 Gathering, will not be granted a permit, but that isn’t stopping organizers from holding the possible large-scale gathering anyway.

Sedona City Manager Tim Ernster said organizer Scott Love approached the city about the gathering approximately three months ago.

“He wanted to use Posse Grounds Park for the event. After he described it to us, we said the park isn’t capable of handling that size, that complexity. It doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle it,” Ernster said.

Following the denial for a permit, city staff learned the 11-11-11 event has been advertised heavily on the Internet.

“He’s asking for money for the event,” Ernster said. “We’re expecting, potentially, a lot of people to show up in Sedona, thinking there’s going to be more organized activity taking place here. From what we can tell, there are very few activities, if any, taking place.

“We’re concerned about what people will expect when they get here, where they might stay. They might be concerned that maybe they paid some money for the event and there is no event, there are no activities. The other thing we are concerned about is the impact on the surrounding forest areas, that there might be people illegally camping in the forest.”

Love, meanwhile, said the event will be held in various Sedona locations between Friday, Nov. 4, and Saturday, Nov. 12.

“Sedona has said we cannot have a special use permit. We respect that, and we completely understand their concerns,” Love said.

“What we’re doing is teaming up with several local businesses in the area. More people are stepping up, saying they’d like to be a part of this. Because we can’t do it all in one spot, a place like a crystal shop or a meditation place, any place like that, can host workshops.”

Love said he was involved in community outreach programs in Detroit for a number of years, where he worked with emotionally impaired youth. The 11-11-11 event, he said, is about “oneness.” He developed the idea, featuring music, art and more, through meditation.

“For years friends of mine had been telling me how awesome Sedona is. I was excited, and the more I started meditating about it, the more it felt right,” Love said. “It gives the businesses an opportunity to connect with people.

In order to have done this as a festival, I would have had to have done a 501(c), which I’m not. I’m registered as a nonprofit as a citizen in Michigan.”