Thousands of people are expected to converge at Fiesta Island on Mission Bay Saturday for another Floatopia event. San Diego spent thousands of dollars on the last event.
The Floatopia events encourage local college students to come down to Mission Bay and drink while floating on rafts, getting around the city’s beach booze ban.
The mayor’s office says the last event on March 20, 2010 cost San Diego $25,000 due to overtime and reassigning personnel.
The events are legal, but Lifeguard Sergeant Rick Strobel says safety is a big concern.
“Bus loads of people, car loads of people, coming to the beach to float and drink alcohol in an extremely volatile situation,” he said.
Floatopia organizers are providing buses to tomorrow’s event from area colleges. Police are expecting between 1,500 and 5,000 people on Saturday May 8.
The last spring event drew about 2,500 people. The mayor’s office says city workers collected 2.4 tons of trash after it was over.
