The field at Sunset Beach Park once again sits behind a temporary blue fence in the aftermath of the annual 4/20 event that brought tens of thousands of people onto the grass Saturday.
In 2018, the field remained closed for several weeks, but it’s not clear yet how long it will be off-limits this year.
“That’s where we usually play fetch on my lunch break so we hope to get it back soon,” said West End resident Andrew Thelan as he walked his dog Astro on the Seawall.
Those who organized Vancouver's 4/20 rally spent $30,000 on plastic flooring to try to protect the turf but didn’t have enough to cover the whole field, which had been saturated by rain in the days leading up to the event, which took place under sunny skies.
“There is a bit of muddiness there and a little bit of damage,” said organizer Dana Larsen. “But it’s only grass…it’s going to regrow.”
Larsen said the group behind the event will pay for the damage to the grass this year, just like they did in 2018 when they reimbursed the City of Vancouver and Park Board $63,000 for 4/20 expenses.
The group did not pay more than $180,000 in policing costs last year because they say the event continues to be a protest.
“They certainly aren’t a protest,” said Vancouver Coun. Melissa de Genova. “This is not an organization that can’t raise money or doesn’t have money, and they should have to pay their costs and fees just like every other organization.”
She would also like to see the event out of Sunset Beach Park next year unless it gets a permit and smoking exemption from the Park Board.
“If someday, for some reason they were to shut down Sunset Beach Park and stop us going there, we’d go back to the Art Gallery where we were blocking off four major streets downtown and it was a lot harder to maintain public safety,” said Larsen.
The city has not yet given organizers a bill for this year’s event.
