The Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) will look to have “next level conversations” with the heads of the region’s post-secondary institutions over the coming months to find solutions to mitigate and end the yearly unsanctioned St. Patrick’s Day street party in Waterloo.

Every year on St. Patrick’s Day, thousands of young people gather on streets near the Wilfrid Laurier University campus, including Ezra Avenue and Marshall Street. It’s widely believed those attending are students at Laurier, the University of Waterloo, Conestoga College and surrounding schools.

The event requires extensive police, city bylaw and emergency crew presence that costs the police service hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

Police have also said the event has significant impacts on the safety and well-being of students and the community.

“The board and I will be engaged with our post-secondary education leaders just to ensure that we are aligned in our wishes and to provide the best avenues for safety in our community,” police Chief Mark Crowell told reporters after a police services board meeting Wednesday.

“Moving forward … our board agrees we need to connect with the leadership of our post secondary institutions to continue to look at solutions to mitigate and ultimately end this unsafe, unsanctioned gathering for our community.”

In years past, police have set up fencing along Ezra Avenue as a way to prevent people from gathering on the street. The City of Waterloo also updated it’s nuisance bylaw to deter people from blocking the sidewalk and roadway.

In 2025, the city sought a court injunction against the street parties, but thousands of students attended the event anyway.

Police also had a sniper at this year’s gathering, a decision that was met with shock and concern from the community and Waterloo’s Mayor Dorothy McCabe, but which police said was in line with how they cover events.

In 2019, City of Waterloo councillors received a report from staff that said many young people who attend St. Patrick’s Day see it as a “rite of passage” and part of their post secondary experience.

Ian Mclean, chair of the Waterloo Regional Police Service Board, said meeting with the heads of the region’s post-secondary institutions comes at a time when leadership changes are happening at some institutions.

“We’re going to have a new president of the University of Waterloo, new leadership at Conestoga College. [It’s] timely for us to sit down with those leaders in the community and to some extent explore things that we haven’t done before,” Mclean told reporters.

Less calls, charges and people, but cost went up

A deployment report and presentation at Wednesday’s board meeting showed a reduction in the number of calls for service and charges laid compared to 2025.

This year generated 392 calls for service compared to 456 last year. Police laid 218 charges at this year’s event compared to 254 in 2025.

Of those 218 charges, 128 were Highway Traffic Act charges and 58 were Liquor Licence and Control Act charges.

Attendance numbers this year were also half of what 2025 saw, according to police, with peak crowd numbers hitting approximately 7,500 people on March 14 on Marshall Street.

“I think that’s significant as year over year, the trend has been a 50 per cent increase,” Insp. Tanya Klingenberg told the board.

The entire St. Patrick’s Day deployment period, including the increased staffing on March 13 and 15, cost police approximately $321,000, which was a $12,300 increase than 2025.

Klingenberg said most of that increase was due to additional resources needed to “effectively deploy our operational plan.”