Fresh off a headlining set at Kamloops Snowbombing Festival, legendary rap crew Cypress Hill is scheduled to perform at Vancouver’s annual 4-20 event this Saturday.
However, the Vancouver Park Board is doing everything in its power to cancel the performance.
Park Board commissioners have requested an urgent meeting with Vancouver Police, Fire and Rescue Services, as well as officials from Coastal Health, to discuss safety concerns.
According to commissioner John Coupar, the addition of Cypress Hill is an unacceptable escalation.
“It’s almost like they’re saying, ‘Okay, you think it was big last year, we’re going to really make it bigger and there’s nothing you can do about it,’” said Coupar.
“If you compare it to, say, Celebration of Light, they pay all the fees, they pay all the policing. We don’t allow 250,000 people to come down to English Bay and drink openly on the beach.”
Held for decades outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery, the 4-20 celebration was moved to Sunset Beach in 2017, where the event has been controversial for reasons other than cannabis.
Besides defying park board regulations against smoking parks, the event has allegedly damaged turf fields at Sunset Beach and organizers have refused to pay policing costs estimated at about $200,000.
Last year’s event attracted about 40,000 people, but organizers are likely expecting more attendees this year to celebrate the event’s 25th anniversary, Cypress Hill and of course, Canada legalizing cannabis.
