STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: Regular Meeting of April 28, 2026
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Patrick Tang, Interim City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Christopher Roke, Parks and Recreation Director SUBJECT: Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Co-sponsored Special Events and Request for Additional Budget Allocation of $10,000 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 for the next FY 26-27 and that the Council approve an additional $10,000 to account for increased costs.
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 include National Night Out, Bay Front Festival and Run, Crab Feed, Lunar New Year and the Cultural Festival. For FY 26-27, staff proposes to hold the same five events with an increase of $10,000 to offset the growing cost to deliver high quality events to the city.
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 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. Four of the five events for FY 25-26 have been held to date, including the National Night Out, Bayfront Festival, Crab Feed, and Lunar New Year. The last event for FY 25-26 is the Cultural Festival which will be held on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Hanna Ranch Park. As previously discussed, with the ongoing construction for the Shade Structure project at Refugio Valley Park this summer, the Cultural Festival needed to find a new home for 2026.
Staff returned in November of 2025 to provide an update on Fireworks and co-sponsored Special Events.
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 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 4 of the 5 events have already been held, including the Lunar New Year event that grew in the 2nd year from 800 to 2,500 participants. There is still one more event taking place in FY 25-26, and that is the Cultural Festival which will be held on Sunday, June 7, 2026 at Hannah Ranch Park.
As mentioned in November, there are a couple things to consider as we plan for future events (1) with the National Night Out always held the first Tuesday of August, Council previously agreed to allocating funds 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 additional 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. Thus, staff is recommending the council approve the same five events for FY 26-27, with an increase of $10,000 for a total of $55,000, in advance of the budget.
FISCAL IMPACT:
A budget allocation of $45,000 has been designated for the FY 25-26 Annual Budget to facilitate up to five quality co-sponsored special events. In light of increasing costs, staff recommends that the City Council approves a revised allocation of $55,000, which includes an additional $10,000 for FY 26-27.
PROPOSED EVENTS
DATE
CO-SPONSORSHIP CONTRIBUTION
NATIONAL NIGHT OUT (AT REFUGIO VALLEY PARK)
Tu 8/4/26
$55,000 for all five events have been included in the FY 26-27 Annual Budget
BAYFRONT FESTIVAL (AT THE BAYFRONT)
Su 10/18/26
CRAB FEED (AT THE COMMUNITY SWIM CENTER)
Sa 1/23/27
LUNAR NEW YEAR (AT THE COMMUNITY SWIM CENTER)
Su 2/14/27
CULTURAL FESTIVAL (AT HANNA RANCH PARK)
Su 6/6/27
Financial Impact Description: $55,000 FY2026-27 Budget Funding Source: General Fund #100-5510-611.90-00 Budget Recap: Total Estimated cost: $55,000 New Revenue: $0 Amount Budgeted: $55,000 Lost Revenue: $0 New Funding required: $0 New Personnel: $0 Council Policy Change: Yes q No Q Financial Impact Description: $55,000 FY2026-27 Budget Funding Source: General Fund #100-5510-611.90-00 Budget Recap: Total Estimated cost: $55,000 New Revenue: $0 Amount Budgeted: $55,000 Lost Revenue: $0 New Funding required: $0 New Personnel: $0 Council Policy Change: Yes q No Q Financial Impact
Description: $55,000 FY2026-27 Budget
Funding Source: General Fund #100-5510-611.90-00
Budget Recap:
Total Estimated cost: $55,000 New Revenue: $0
Amount Budgeted: $55,000 Lost Revenue: $0
New Funding required: $0 New Personnel: $0
Council Policy Change: Yes q No Q
Financial Impact
Description: $55,000 FY2026-27 Budget
Funding Source: General Fund #100-5510-611.90-00
Budget Recap:
Total Estimated cost: $55,000 New Revenue: $0
Amount Budgeted: $55,000 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