STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: Regular Meeting of November 12, 2025
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Christopher Roke, Parks and Recreation Director SUBJECT: FY 25-26 Co-sponsored Special Events Update
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive an update on special events co-sponsored by the city and the Bay Front Chamber of Commerce during the current FY 25-26.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
As directed by City Council, staff has worked with the Bayfront Chamber of Commerce to collaborate on a variety of Special Events to be held in Hercules over the past several years. For FY 25-26, the events will include National Night Out, Bay Front Festival and Run, Crab Feed, Lunar New Year and the Cultural Festival.
BACKGROUND:
In FY 21-22, the City Council budgeted $100,000 for Special Events to give the community something to celebrate as we started to recover from the pandemic. The Council realized the community needed to celebrate. The Hercules City Council directed staff to partner with the City of Pinole and budgeted $75,000 to bring a Fireworks Celebration to the community. In addition, the City Council allocated $25,000 to enter into an agreement with the Bayfront Chamber of Commerce to lead a series of co-sponsored special events.
In FY 22-23, the City Council allocated $50,000 for a Fireworks Celebration and $35,000 to enter into an agreement with the Bayfront Chamber of Commerce to produce a series of four (4) co-sponsored events that included National Night Out, the Bay Front Festival, Bottles and Bites, and the Cultural Festival.
In FY 23-24, the City Council allocated $50,000 for Fireworks, and $35,000 for special events with the Bay Front Chamber and directed staff to consider ways to get the other City Recognized Nonprofit groups involved. Staff worked with the Chamber to swap the Bottles and Bites event with a Crab Feed event that would allow the other nonprofit groups to generate funds through ticket sales.
In FY 24-25, the City Council allocated $50,000 for a 4th of July Celebration, and $45,000 for special events with the Bay Front Chamber adding a new event to celebrate the Lunar New Year in addition to National Night Out, Bayfront Festival, Crab Feed and Cultural Festival.
In FY 25-26, the City Council allocated $50,000 for a 4th of July Celebration, and $45,000 for special events with the Bay Front Chamber. The events for FY 25-26 include the National Night Out, Bayfront Festival, Crab Feed, Lunar New Year and Cultural Festival.
Staff has returned tonight to provide a status update of the events that have taken place to date in FY 25-26 including the National Night Out and the Bay Front Festival and Run as well as to provide information about upcoming events including the Crab Feed, Lunar New Year, and the Cultural Festival.
The National Night Out event was held in August at Refugio Valley Park and the night capped off with the final movie night of the summer. The Bay Front Festival and Run was held in October and had the most runners ever. Both events were very successful.
Staff is working with the Chamber to keep them informed of work being performed in Refugio Valley Park during FY 25-26 and how that may impact events; in particular, the Cultural Festival, and likely National Night out for FY 26-27. Staff has been working with the Chamber to move these events to Hanna Ranch Park this year. Both events plan to move forward with an alternate venue for 2026. In addition, the 4th of July Celebration is not a co-sponsored special event and therefore discussed with Council separately.
ANALYSIS:
The City of Hercules has been fortunate to work with the Bayfront Chamber over these past several years to bring a series of events to Hercules. Without the assistance from the Bayfront Chamber of Commerce, the City could not produce many of these events for the community. As mentioned above, all these special events have been and continue to be both well received and well attended by the community.
At the time of this report, the first two events have already been held. There will be 3 more events taking place in the new year, including the Crab Feed on Saturday, January 24, the 2nd annual Lunar New Year on Sunday, March 1, and the Cultural Festival on Sunday, June 7, 2026.
A couple things to consider in the future are (1) with the National Night Out always held the first Tuesday of August, staff recommends that Council allocates funding for this event in advance of the budget process; and (2) the costs to hold these events has steadily increased creating a growing concern from the Bayfront Chamber about the sustainability of these events. While the Chamber continues to work to secure sponsorship dollars to continue to provide these events to the Hercules community, they have made it clear that continuing to run these events would likely require increased financial support going forward as evident from the attached recap of each event over the 3 years since this event has returned showing an increase in cost by $10,000 from year 1 to year 3.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no additional fiscal impact associated with this item. $45,000 has been allocated for the FY 25-26 Annual Budget to host five high-quality co-sponsored special events. This report is intended to provide the City Council with a status update on events so far and to address future needs.
PROPOSED EVENTS
DATE
CO-SPONSORSHIP CONTRIBUTION
NATIONAL NIGHT OUT (AT REFUGIO VALLEY PARK)
Tu 8/5/25
$45,000 for all five events have been included in the FY 25-26 Annual Budget
BAYFRONT FESTIVAL (AT THE BAYFRONT)
Su 10/19/25
CRAB FEED (AT THE COMMUNITY SWIM CENTER)
Sa 1/24/26
LUNAR NEW YEAR (AT THE COMMUNITY SWIM CENTER)
Su 3/1/26
CULTURAL FESTIVAL (AT HANNA RANCH PARK)
Su 6/7/26
Financial Impact Description: $45,000 FY2025-26 Budget Funding Source: General Fund #100-5510-611.90-00 Budget Recap: Total Estimated cost: $45,000 New Revenue: $0 Amount Budgeted: $45,000 Lost Revenue: $0 New Funding required: $0 New Personnel: $0 Council Policy Change: Yes q No Q Financial Impact Description: $45,000 FY2025-26 Budget Funding Source: General Fund #100-5510-611.90-00 Budget Recap: Total Estimated cost: $45,000 New Revenue: $0 Amount Budgeted: $45,000 Lost Revenue: $0 New Funding required: $0 New Personnel: $0 Council Policy Change: Yes q No Q Financial Impact
Description: $45,000 FY2025-26 Budget
Funding Source: General Fund #100-5510-611.90-00
Budget Recap:
Total Estimated cost: $45,000 New Revenue: $0
Amount Budgeted: $45,000 Lost Revenue: $0
New Funding required: $0 New Personnel: $0
Council Policy Change: Yes q No Q
Financial Impact
Description: $45,000 FY2025-26 Budget
Funding Source: General Fund #100-5510-611.90-00
Budget Recap:
Total Estimated cost: $45,000 New Revenue: $0
Amount Budgeted: $45,000 Lost Revenue: $0
New Funding required: $0 New Personnel: $0
Council Policy Change: Yes q No Q
ATTACHMENTS:
2022-23FY Cultural Festival Recap
2023-24FY Cultural Festival Recap
2024-25FY Cultural Festival Recap