Cypress Hill headlining Vancouver 4/20 amid Park Board fears

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Cannabis fans will be jamming to Cypress Hill at this year’s 4/20, but the annual event will be less chill for the Park Board, which fears the big-name group along with a long weekend, legalization and 25th anniversary will lead to huge crowds and damage costs.

Organizers have announced the weed-friendly hip hop group will headline its event at Sunset Beach. However, despite musical performances, a main stage and dozens of vendors, those who put the show together still refuse to label it a festival rather than a protest.

“It does prove that if they’re going to have entertainment like that, that this is officially an event and not a protest anymore,” Park Board Commissioner Tricia Barker said. “Especially if they’re bringing in that kind of entertainment to this. Yes, there are going to be even larger crowds there, so that means we’re going to have to have even more people on deck.”

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This year marks the 25th anniversary of the event and the first 4/20 since legalization, both of which Barker believes will add to the crowds.

Vancouver Police estimates last year’s event cost $139,699 and damage shut down the park for weeks.

 

The field at Sunset Beach was left damaged following 4/20 in 2018. (Hana Mae Nassar, NEWS 1130 Photo)

Festival organizer Dana Larsen says he sent $63,000 to the city and Park Board last year, but refuses to cover the cost of policing.

In previous years, the Park Board denied organizers a permit. Last year, organizers didn’t bother applying for one. Despite the legalization of marijuana this past October, smoking anything in Vancouver city parks is in violation of by-laws.

As a festival, organizers would be responsible for covering all the costs of services, including sanitation, clean up, repairs and policing.

“This is a real burden on the city,” Coun. Adriane Carr said. “Making sure that the event is actually one that has a license is really important because then all those costs get paid by the license holder. When they say it’s a protest, they don’t get a license. They don’t pay the full cost and taxpayers have to bear that burden.”

RELATED: PNE Board says ‘no’ to annual 4/20 protest

Vancouver council is trying to relocate the event. The board of directors for the PNE voted down a motion to host it at Hastings Park

“I think it’s more of creating a professional relationship and working together because when you are bringing in bands and doing it to the level they are, it has moved from a protest to being a celebration of festival,” said Coun. Michael Wiebe, who previously served on the Park Board.

– With files from Martin MacMahon and Hana Mae Nassar