Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

How high? Officials say 4/20 rally cost city $250,000

Numbers jump by close to $100,000 compared to last year’s totals
pot
The bill for last month’s 4/20 rally is in, and it’s considerably higher than last year’s event. Photo Dan Toulgoet

Costs associated with last month’s 4/20 rally have skyrocketed by close to $100,000 from 2016 figures.

Numbers released by the city late Thursday afternoon peg that price tag at $245,379, and those costs are split between events at both Sunset Beach and the Vancouver Art Gallery. The city’s tally is spread across a number of different departments and jurisdictions: the park board, police and fire services, engineering and emergency management.

The costs break down as follows:

  •          parks and recreation ($34,630)
  •          fire and rescue ($11,760)
  •          policing ($170,670)
  •          engineering ($25,949)
  •          emergency management ($2,370).

Ambulance costs and other totals incurred by Vancouver Coastal Health were not included in the city’s figures.

The Sunset Beach totals check in at $182,065, while the art gallery expenditures totalled $63,314.

The 2016 event cost the city roughly $150,000, of which $99,000 went to policing expenditures.

“Notwithstanding the non-sanctioned nature of these events, a significant planning effort and operational response was undertaken by the city, park board and VPD to ensure public safety,” notes a press release issued by the city.

The city’s news release says the park board will invoice event organizers for their share of costs related to the Sunset Beach rally. A full breakdown of those costs was not provided.

Sunset Beach was closed indefinitely after the rally due to damage to the adjacent fields. Event organizer Dana Larsen told the Courier in the days following the rally that he expected the park board bill to be in the neighbourhood of $5,000.

More to come.

jkurucz@vancourier.com