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Park board at odds with organizers over permitting and grass preservation
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The weather, grass conditions and increased permitting costs have put an end to Vancouver’s Point Grey Fiesta.
Justin Wagner, owner of Mission-based Shooting Star Amusements, said the Vancouver park board set a deadline of June 1 for either party to cancel this year’s event — held at Trimble Park over Father’s Day weekend since 1986.
“With the weather we’ve had this last spring, at the last site meeting with stakeholders they (park board) put a June 1st date on whether to cancel,” said Wagner, on the phone from Port Hardy Carnival Days.
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“My thing is I have 40 employees and a lot of expenses, so I can’t afford to wait until the week before to find out whether I can go out onto a location or not.”
Wagner said wetter spring days over the past few years had made the grass surface at Trimble Park softer and more easily damaged by trucks that travel over it to set up the carnival rides. Wagner said set-up teams did use purpose-built mats to protect grass.
“Our equipment is too heavy and I don’t want to wreck the fields and the grass. It pretty much boils down to that,” Wagner said, adding that in 2022 there had been grass damage. This was the first fiesta since 2019, due to COVID-19.
Wagner said that after a wet Ladner May Days event on May 26 he had pulled the pin on setting up rides for the fiesta, killing the event.
Keta Kosman, spokesperson for the Point Grey Fiesta Committee, said the group organized the event and was responsible for getting park board permits, providing some insurance, setting up portable toilets and managing parking.
She said this usually cost between $5,000 and $7,000 a year, with the carnival operator giving the committee a cut of the proceeds at the end of the event.
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Kosman said that last year the park board added two significant costs for organizers.
“For 2023, parks board forced us to have a site monitor. Someone to make sure there is no damage to the field surface,” said Kosman, adding this cost more than $2,000.
For 2023, the carnival operators also had to post a $7,500 damage deposit, from which $2,500 was retained for grass remediation.
Kosman said the committee had asked whether for 2024 the site monitor could attend at only the setup and takedown to reduce costs. This was rejected, she said.
Post COVID-19 has been hard on volunteer-organized events, Wagner said, noting this event had become smaller over the years and the parade down West 10th Avenue (Point Grey Village) was cancelled after 2019.
“There’s more regulations and things you’ve got to follow every year,” Wagner said.
“I can see their frustration with it. It’s hard when you are volunteers trying to put on an event and there are always more hurdles to overcome.”
The Vancouver park board requires film and television production companies using parks to pay for a site supervisor, Wagner said, adding it was not unusual for cities to ask for a damage deposit.
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The fiesta was previously sponsored by Telus, CIBC, Royal Bank, TD Bank, Home Hardware and others.
According to a prepared statement, the park board said there was grass damage at Trimble Park in 2022 and 2023 “under the management of a new organizer.”
Kosman took over the event for 2022 after the departure of the previous organizer, who retired in 2019 and had been in place since 1986.
The park board said it had suggested the event be moved from Trimble Park to Locarno Beach, but the idea was rejected by the event organizer. Locarno Beach, west of Jericho Beach, has two paved parking lots.
“For 2024, park board staff and the event organizer selected Locarno Park as a more suitable location for the fiesta. Unfortunately, the organizer decided to cancel the event due to operational concerns and the potential for inclement weather,” the statement read.
“It is standard for events of this scope to require a comprehensive operational plan, including damage deposits and event liaison support, to ensure adequate ground protection.”
Wagner said he did not expect to return to Trimble Park and that the organizers could approach UBC — or a place with a hard surface instead of grass — to host the event.
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dcarrigg@postmedia.com
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