St. Fratty’s Day concert, police kept students off the streets. What happens next year?
Cal Poly and the San Luis Obispo Police Department hope the successes of the 2025 St. Fratty’s Day celebration will mark the beginning of a new era for the notorious party weekend.
In past years, St. Fratty’s Day has drawn thousands to an illegal block party in the streets near campus, disrupting neighbors and presenting serious safety concerns. Past parties have resulted in injuries and vandalism across campus and in the neighborhoods.
But this year’s party was different.
Cal Poly’s on-campus concert drew most of the rambunctious partygoers away from the neighborhoods — and those who did show up in the streets were quickly dispersed by the nearly 300 law enforcement officers on scene.
Both the city and the university hope those successes can continue in future years — though no plans have been finalized.
Officials will gather feedback to plan for next year
The university and city succeeded at preventing the “destructive gatherings and out-of-control partying” that have plagued St. Fratty’s Days past, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong wrote in a statement after the March 15 event.
“We are pleased with the results — even as we acknowledge there are lessons to be learned and areas where we can improve in the future,” Armstrong wrote.
Armstrong reiterated the university’s efforts, saying hundreds of employees were involved in planning and enacting the “Morning on the Green” concert, which featured EDM artists Galantis and Zhu. Armstrong said Cal Poly partnered with the city of SLO to “address past mass gatherings and destructive behavior.”
Now, the university is in the process of planning what will happen next year.
“With so many stakeholders on campus and off, a comprehensive review of these efforts will take time — and answers to many specific questions will come later,” he said. “We are in the process of gathering feedback from those stakeholders, with the aim of providing programming and enforcement next year that improves on this year’s results and continues changing the culture of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in San Luis Obispo into the future.”
University spokesperson Matt Lazier told The Tribune in an email that the university does not yet have any concrete plans for next year’s celebration.
Similarly, SLO Police Department spokesperson Christine Wallace told The Tribune the city saw no reports of property damage on St. Fratty’s Day, and few arrests compared to previous years.
But the department is working to gather feedback before setting in motion a plan for next year.
“We won’t make the determination on the response for next year until after we do a full review of the weekend,” Wallace wrote in an email. “We know the on-campus event helped keep people out of the neighborhood and we know that increased patrol staff was effective in keeping crowds from forming.”
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