Thousands of partygoers are planning to attend a beach party somewhere in 91原创 on Friday the 13th next week, but police and parks staff say they鈥檒l have to get past their officers first.
The 鈥渇ull moon beach party鈥� Facebook page has logged more than 7,000 鈥淚鈥檓 going鈥� hits for a party planned for June 13, the night of a full moon.
The site says it鈥檚 organized by DJ Bjorn, a Swedish DJ who now lives in 91原创 and whose website says he parties at his favourite beaches on English Bay, in Kitsilano and on Wreck Beach, wearing a costume and carrying his portable DJ equipment with him on his electric bike.
鈥淒ay time is almost always at English Bay and we also set up for after-hours (starting at 3 a.m.), but those locations are kept secret till the very night,鈥� he wrote on his blog.
He didn鈥檛 return messages and the Facebook page doesn鈥檛 include a location for the full-moon bash, but a number of the entries guessed it to be Wreck Beach, 91原创鈥檚 tolerated clothing-optional beach near the University of B.C.
RCMP鈥檚 UBC detachment said they鈥檒l be ready if the thousands who promised to show up arrive at the beach, notorious for open drug and alcohol use.
Police officers and park rangers from Metro 91原创 Parks, which runs the beach, will be positioned at the four marked trails to the beach, which is at the bottom of a steep embankment accessible by 472 steps.
鈥淚t is a contravention of a (Metro) Parks bylaw for anyone to access the beach after sunset,鈥� said UBC RCMP spokesman Sgt. Drew Grainger, who said the embankment would be treacherous in the dark.
He said ticketing and arrests are possible but officers would prefer to make a 鈥減ublic service announcement鈥� to anyone attempting to access or remain on the beach after dark.
Damara Smith said she learned of the event from a friend on Facebook. The Richmond woman said she鈥檚 never been to anything like the advertised event before, but had imagined it鈥檇 be similar to the annual fireworks held at English Bay, 鈥渂ut with more music and not as many people, like a cool outdoor, nice setting.鈥�
鈥淚 looked into it and thought it looked like a neat idea, so I said, 鈥榊es, I鈥檒l go,鈥� 鈥欌�� said the 27-year-old.
91原创 police said their regular beach patrol is always on the lookout for violations of park bylaws and liquor offences.
鈥淚n the event that an incident is brought to our attention that is beyond the scope of the beach patrol, our emergency operations and planning section will work to ensure that sufficient resources are available,鈥� said 91原创 police Sgt. Randy Fincham in an email.
UBC RCMP find after-hour partiers on the beach about once a month, as they did about a month ago when they learned about a rave that had been advertised on social media.
鈥淲e go down and we ask them to abide by the park closure,鈥� said Grainger.
Smith said she wasn鈥檛 too worried about safety concerns such as open liquor consumption and drug use.
鈥淚 think no matter what, if people want to be doing drugs, they will do it with or without a party on a beach,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f the police decide to shut it down early, then I guess they鈥檒l do it, but I may as well try and have a different experience.鈥�
After-hour partiers wreak havoc for daytime beachgoers, said Judy Williams of the Wreck Beach Preservation Society.
鈥淚t sounds lovely because everyone loves a full moon and everyone likes to enjoy the beach, but this isn鈥檛 the way to do it,鈥� she said.
After-hour partiers have burned pallets and furniture and it burned for days, she said.
And daytime users have been burned stepping on the embers the next day, despite attempts to bury them with sand, she said.
She and others have spent all day combing the sand for broken glass from the bottles brought to the beach by partygoers, said Williams.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e young and they don鈥檛 care, they just want to party,鈥� she said.
She said police officers were successful in stopping another party that 1,300 people were expected to attend two or three months ago.
鈥淭he RCMP were out in spades,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f the party had gone ahead, it would have caused a lot of problems.鈥�
She said the noise also disturbs the wildlife, including barn owls and great blue herons, and partying on the beaches of nearby Spanish Banks disturbs the spawning grounds of the surf smelts and other forage fish on which eagles and herons feed.
