Cal Poly spent over $1 million on St. Fratty’s Day concert. Here’s where it went
Cal Poly is once again slated to spend more than $1 million on its St. Fratty’s Day entertainment and enforcement.
This year’s event, which occurred March 14, hosted at least 11,000 people on campus for an EDM music festival featuring artists Walker and Royce and Odd Mob. The event successfully drew students to campus, and no gatherings were reported in the streets.
The concert tradition launched in 2025 as the city and university took a new approach to preventing the St. Fratty’s Day revelry of previous years — when thousands of students crowded into the neighborhoods for an unsanctioned street party.
Overall, Cal Poly’s costs for this year’s concert once again exceeded $1 million.
According to breakdown of estimates provided by university spokesperson Matt Lazier on Wednesday, the total cost of the music festival will sit at $1,007,334.
Approximately $597,668 went toward the concert itself, Lazier reported, while concert security cost the university about $49,257.
But the concert wasn’t the only cost associated with St. Fratty’s Day.
Cal Poly also shelled out about $271,613 for non-concert campus security costs, the numbers showed, and another $88,794 went toward other forms of campus response and support.
Lazier said the numbers weren’t yet finalized and could change slightly as the final invoices are paid.
The costs marked a decrease from 2025, when the university spent more than $1.1 million for costs.
How much did St. Fratty’s management cost the city?
While Cal Poly’s costs were set to slightly decrease from the previous year, the city of SLO’s costs increased.
According to numbers reported by The Tribune in early April, the city spent a total of $136,305 to staff and equip law enforcement on St. Fratty’s Day.
Wallace said at the time that $72,361 of that went toward staffing, while another $63,944 went toward non-staff expenses like equipment rentals, advertising, food and coffee and hotel rooms.
The city brought officers from 21 agencies around the county and state to SLO to keep an eye on the neighborhoods during this year’s event.
The city also closed roads the morning of the event and implemented safety enhancement zones that doubled fines for violations like open containers and unruly gatherings during the weekends leading up to and of the event.
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