‘Go home or you get arrested.’ See live updates from St. Fratty’s Day in SLO
Editor’s Note: The Tribune has dropped the paywall on this article and made it available to all readers in the interest of promoting public safety. Please consider supporting local journalism and similar coverage with a subscription to The Tribune.
St. Fratty’s Day is here — and The Tribune will bring live coverage of Saturday’s event throughout the morning.
The annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration has drawn thousands of people to the neighborhood streets of San Luis Obispo in past years — but the city and Cal Poly are hoping to keep both students and neighbors safe by preventing the crowd from surging to those levels again.
Cal Poly will host an early morning music festival featuring EDM artists Zhu and Galantis on campus in hopes of drawing students out of the streets, but some students indicated they’d be heading to the block party anyway after the university’s 5,000 available tickets sold out within minutes.
Read along for live updates from campus and the surrounding neighborhoods.
SLO mayor warns St. Fratty’s isn’t over yet
Update, 11:30 a.m.:
San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart told The Tribune the St. Fratty’s Day management was “heartening” — but it’s not over yet.
She credited local police as well as the law enforcement that traveled from around the state to help the city and university prevent the block party.
Still, Stewart said the city is moving forward with “heightened awareness.”
“We’re still all very aware that St. Patrick’s Day is not done and the safety enhancement zone is still here throughout Tuesday,” she said.
To see more on the city’s neighborhood enforcement efforts, read our additional coverage at: SLO, Cal Poly beefed up enforcement for St. Fratty’s Day. Did students stay off the street?
Neighbors react to city, university response
San Luis Obispo resident Kathie Walker, who lives in the vicinity of the traditional block party, told The Tribune she was happy with the neighborhood management Saturday morning.
Walker is active in Residents for Quality Neighborhoods, a community group that has advocated for better management of St. Fratty’s Day partying.
“The response by law enforcement exceeded our expectations and we are really happy with how everything was handled this morning,” she said. “We all hope this continues in future years.”
Cindy Vix, another San Luis Obispo resident and Residents for Quality Neighborhoods affiliate, owns a rental home on Bond Street that was vandalized during last year’s block party.
She had concerns about this year’s celebration, but was ultimately happy with how the city and university managed the party.
“I’m just thrilled,” she told The Tribune on Saturday after the bulk of the celebration wound down.
She said she would remain “cautiously optimistic” this weekend and hoped law enforcement would maintain a strong presence in the neighborhoods.
Cal Poly pleased with campus efforts
Update, 10:30 a.m.:
Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier told The Tribune the university was satisfied with the way Saturday morning played out.
He said the level of damage and disruption in the dorms was minimal compared to previous years.
“We attribute that this to our proactive measures implemented for the weekend,” he added.
As for the concert, Lazier said the event went “generally smoothly,” despite students pushing through the security barricades. Cal Poly ultimately decided to allow attendees to enter freely to ensure the safety of both students and others, Lazier said.
“We are also pleased that our goal of keeping students out of the neighborhoods was successful,” he added.
To read more about the early-morning concert, read our extended coverage at: 6,000 St. Fratty’s Day revelers turn out to dance the morning away at Cal Poly music festival
SLO police say anti-party efforts were successful
Update, 9:30 a.m.:
San Luis Obispo Police Department spokesperson Christine Wallace told The Tribune that it looked like the city’s work to prevent street partying appeared successful as of Saturday morning.
“We are appreciative of the support of the agencies that came in to assist,” she said. “We were able to manage the people who were in the neighborhoods looking to create a street party and disseminate them (before) anything could really get going.”
Wallace said the Police Department was still seeing a “healthy crowd downtown at a few of the bars” and was getting “a fair number of noise complaints from all over town.”
“We’ll stay upstaffed throughout the day to continue to monitor and address areas as needed,” she said.
Wallace said the agency would also be prepared to respond to anticipated crowds downtown on Monday for St. Patrick’s Day as well.
‘Go home or you get arrested.’ Police patrol neighborhoods outside Cal Poly
Update, 8 a.m.:
After a quiet start to the morning, several hundred students began gathering on Hathway Avenue and the neighborhoods adjoining Cal Poly just before 8 a.m.
The police weren’t having it, however.
The assembled students were at first being herded off the street and onto the sidewalk, but as of 8 a.m. they were being told to clear the area entirely.
“Either you go home or you get arrested,” one motorcycle officer told the crowd on a loudspeaker.
Meanwhile inside the concert, several attendees could be heard debating whether they wanted to leave and head out to the street party. Other students on campus also appeared to be considering the same thing.
“Alright we’re going to go take a shot, then we’re going to the street,” one person could be heard saying on the outskirts of campus Saturday morning.
Cal Poly spokesman says only ‘minor damage’ from on-campus partying so far
Update, 7:30 a.m.:
Cal Poly spokesman Matt Lazier said there had been no major incidents of on-campus vandalism or damage related to partying as of mid-Saturday morning.
“Some partying activity with minor damage,” Lazier told The Tribune around 7:30 a.m. “So far, nothing on the order of what we saw last year.”
Cal Poly removes barriers around concert after students bust through fences
Update, 6:45 a.m.:
Another large swarm of people pushed through security to get into the concert on Saturday morning, an event staff member confirmed to The Tribune.
The rush happened while Galantis, one of the two concert headliners, was on stage.
Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier said the university has since opened up the fencing around the concert and is allowing students through without tickets.
“We made the strategic decision, given that students had broken down the barricades, to open the fences and allow students through,” he said.
Despite some of the confusion, attendees said they were enjoying the concert so far.
“Honestly I think it is going really well,” student Charlotte Sheya told The Tribune. “Their motive to control people is going really well. There’s a lot of people here. It’s taken it away from the street.”
She added: “In general I feel like the street is like I’m standing there, I can’t move. Whereas here it’s like, it’s a concert. It’s fun.”
Third-year Cal Poly student Jamison Gorospe echoed that.
“This is way better,” Gorospe said. “You can hear the music, the vibes are going, it’s free — it’s so much fun!”
Crowd rushes line, some seen jumping fences to get into Cal Poly concert
Update, 5:55 a.m.:
Just ahead of the 6 a.m. opening, a mass of people appeared to swarm and break through security barriers to the main ticketed line and cut into the crowd.
Security personnel worked to get the line back under control, but it continued grow larger and several people expressed confusion at where the line to enter was.
Some people could also be seen bypassing security in the confusion and hopping security fences to get into the concert.
Cal Poly spokesman Matt Lazier told The Tribune around 6 a.m. that the university was “monitoring the situation.”
After the rush, one person could be seen limping, before she was escorted to a seat and attended by medics.
As a crowd began swarming the stage, the student DJ announced that he would pause his set and there was an announcement to not rush forward as staff worked to divert some of the flow of people to larger areas.
“Everyone needs to back up,” the DJ yelled. “Stop pushing! ... Think about the people next to you.”
Around 20 police officers from different agencies also arrived at the scene shortly after the crowd rushed into the venue.
‘I decided I wanted to have fun at the party.’ Students flock to campus concert
Update, 5:45 a.m.:
Maya Armstrong and Ana Prasad, both first years at Cal Poly, were some of the lucky students who got tickets.
They said they opted for the music festival over the potential street party because they wanted a safe option to celebrate and were worried about negative interactions with the police.
“So I decided that I wanted to have some fun at the party, instead of go to the streets,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong and Prasad said they were some of the only people they knew who got tickets.
“I feel disappointed that Cal Poly forced us to go to the event and then didn’t let enough people get tickets,” Prasad said, adding that her friends who didn’t get tickets were planning to go to the street party.
Others had similar concerns.
“I’m from SLO County, so I’ve experienced St. Fratty’s every year, and I think it’s crazy that they want students off the streets, but they don’t provide enough tickets,” said Kayla, a Cal Poly freshman waiting in the standby line at 5:30 a.m.
She and friends Sarah and Amy said they tried to get tickets, but weren’t successful. They decided to wait in line for the concert instead of the street party partially because of the police presence.
As the start time neared, more students began flocking to the concert, lining up to get inside.
As of about 5:30 a.m., more than 200 students were waiting in the standby line to be allowed in when the doors open to people without tickets at 6 a.m.
‘Dark and quiet’ on Cal Poly campus ahead of concert
Original story:
Cal Poly will host an early morning music festival featuring EDM artists Zhu and Galantis on campus in hopes of drawing students out of the streets, but some students indicated they’d be heading to the block party anyway after the university’s 5,000 available tickets sold out within minutes.
Students who didn’t get tickets can wait in a standby line to be let into the event starting at 6 a.m., according to Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier.
Around 3:30 a.m., Lazier told The Tribune it was “dark and quiet” on campus.
“Let’s hope we keep it that way,” he added.
Around 4 a.m., dozens of students could be seen making their way from on-campus dorms bedecked in St. Patrick’s Day green. They made their way out of residence halls — where thumping music could already be heard — destination unknown.
“Yeah, we’re going to carry this guy up the stairs,” one student leaving his dorm with a group of friends could be heard saying.
In an effort to prevent destruction to on-campus buildings, as happened last year, the university increased volunteer security at the dorms this year
On Saturday morning, all exits at the Santa Lucia dorms were guarded with volunteers, according to Cal Poly Partners volunteer Brian Fein.
Students were required to show their ID and the volunteers check the roster to ensure they live there before they are allowed in, he said.
Freshmen Collin Eden and Ryan Gerhart told The Tribune on Saturday morning that though they did not have tickets to the on-campus concert, they had planned to see if they would be allowed in for standby.
When they arrived however, they said there appeared to be few people there yet.
“There was no one there,” Gerhart said. “It was probably outmanned, maybe 50 employees for every one person there.”
They said the planned to next check out the potential block party in neighborhoods surrounding Cal Poly.
“It’s an early morning and there’s not a lot going on so far,” Gerhart laughed — right as a herd of deer ran across a campus street, distracting the duo.
Beyond having some fun, Gerhart and Eden also had an altruistic motive for getting out on Saturday.
The pair, who were bedecked in custom green tanks tops that read St. Fratty’s Day 2025, said they had made and were selling the shirts to help raise money for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Cal Poly graduate student Lauren Anderson and several of her friends were able to get tickets to the event and were on their way to the concert Saturday morning before 5 a.m.
“I am saddened in so many ways that, like, they have to make up for people being vindictive and destructive,” Anderson told The Tribune. “I don’t think that many people that I know at least would act like that. So that was a bummer, but I am really glad that like there’s something to do this year.”
She added: “It’s very early, but I think it’s fun.”
SLO beefs up enforcement ahead of St. Fratty’s
It was also looking quiet Saturday morning in the neighborhoods surrounding Cal Poly.
As of 4:30 a.m., music could be heard blaring from inside some houses in the area of Hathway Avenue, though the party had not spilled out into the street.
That’s potentially due to the heavy law enforcement presence throughout the area, with officers stopping students from entering streets where there has been large gatherings in previous years.
As of 4 a.m., police and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office vehicles could be seen parked at most entrances and exits from Cal Poly’s campus.
UC Santa Barbara police were also on hand to help with enforcement.
The San Luis Obispo Police Department had previously said it will be issuing citations without warnings and making arrests for violations during the party.
The city’s mandated safety enhancement zone started Friday and will last through Tuesday morning. Fines will be doubled during that period.
Ambulances and first responders were also expected to be stationed in the area to offer emergency medical support.
The SLO County District Attorney’s Office has also upped the ante — indicating it will prosecute crimes committed during the St. Fratty’s Day safety enhancement zone without the option for misdemeanor diversion, which provides some low-level, first-time offenders the chance to divert criminal charges through a rehabilitative education program.
This story was originally published March 15, 2025 at 5:27 AM.
