According to Waterloo Regional police, this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day party on Ezra Avenue was the biggest ever with over 22,000 people in attendance.
Police were hoping to scale back the event back this year, but that didn’t happen.
More than 50 people were taken to hospital and one person still remains in the ICU.
Grand River Hospital spent around $12,000 to cover extra staff and physicians for the day.
Regional police say they handed out nearly three times as many tickets as they did last year, laying a total of 619 charges.
The charges ranged from 435 liquor-related offenses to 62 traffic charges, 18 criminal charges, 45 by-law offenses, 50 trespassing charges, five controlled drugs and substances act charges and four Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act charges.
The University of Waterloo hired six patrol officers and 18 security guards for the event, costing a total of $10,000.
Wilfrid Laurier University also hired 100 private security guards and deployed all their special constables.
Waterloo Regional Police Chief Brian Larkin says they have yet to calculate exactly how much they spent on policing the day.
"I do want to set some context, it will be significantly higher than it was last year because of our very different approach to staffing," he said.
Waterloo regional police say they will be releasing the total cost of extra staffing and resources sometime next month.
But Waterloo resident David Gay says he’s had enough of the rowdy party and has started a petition to put it to rest.
"I don't have the answers, I don't know how you shut it down, but it needs to be shut down before something bad happens. I want my petition to be the thing that stops the party from happening next year. I don't want a death or something tragic to happen that stops the party," he said.
The petition is quickly gaining steam as many want to try and put an end to the annual party.
With reporting by Tina Yazdani
