The playing field at Sunset Beach will be closed for approximately five weeks as park board staff restore the grassy area where vendors set up shop during last Thursday’s 4/20 event pot rally, which was attended by an estimated 40,000 people. Park board crews have to start from scratch replanting the area where park goers like to chill when the sun’s out. The city’s director of parks, Howard Normann, says the exact cost of the repairs has yet to be determined.
When the story first appeared on the Courier’s website last Friday, many readers rose to the defense of both the event and the organizers. The park is never closed after tens of thousands of people converge on the beach to watch the annual fireworks festival so why demonize the marijuana protest, they asked.
According to Jeremiah Vandermeer, one of the event organizers: “It’s because of the stigma associated with marijuana... it’s a pot event. That’s why people are critical.”
Vandermeer argues that the park was already muddy after a particularly wet spring, adding that organizers took the necessary precautions to ensure they followed the park board’s regulations. “We worked with everyone to ensure that the park is protected.”
Another commenter, Jen Summers, explained timing was everything when it came to the damage to the field. The annual Celebration of Light fireworks competition and Pride celebrations take place in the summer when “the ground is dry and the grass is dormant.”
“The soil structure has been damaged, it will need to be aerated, graded, (the ruts will become a tripping hazard as it dries) top dressed with new soil, and over seeded with a grass mix,” she wrote on the Courier’s Facebook post of the story. “It will probably take two weeks to a month to germinate, plus it will have to grow in enough to be able to handle foot traffic. If you just leave it the way it is, foot traffic will cause compaction and the grass will not be able to recover properly.”
Future of 4/20 in Vancouver
Park board chair Michael Wiebe said that the board is working with 4/20 organizers to make the festival better in the future — not only to minimize cleanup costs for the city, but to improve the attendees’ experiences.
“We’re putting a proposal to deal with a proper location and discuss it with the organizers to hold it in a location that works,” said Wiebe.
Until 2016, the event was held in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. A construction project prompted the move to Sunset Beach.
Organizers had hoped to get a permit from the city but were denied in 4-3 vote at the park board’s March 6 meeting.
The Courier reported that “debate among commissioners was split along philosophical lines of regulation versus prohibition” because marijuana is still widely classified an illegal substance in Canada. There was also a debate on the consequences of allowing smoking in city parks in spite of a ban.
Despite the vote, 4/20 festival organizers went ahead with the protest at Sunset Beach as they vowed they would. They initially hoped to hold the event on the PNE grounds instead of Sunset Beach, but their requests were turned down.
Vandermeer wants the event be held at the PNE next year. The PNE is operated and managed by the City of Vancouver and is governed by a nine-person board, including city councillor Raymond Louie.
“I’ll do everything I can to move it to the PNE,” Vandermeer said. “It is designed to hold a large crowd, it has food and other accommodation.”
Arvin.Joaquin@carleton.ca
