Irvine City Council members are more than doubling the budget for the 2026 Fourth of July event, following this year’s inaugural celebration that had unprecedented demand, traffic jams and delayed events.

The city had originally budgeted $250,000 for next year’s Fourth of July Celebration, but after seeing how many people showed up to this year’s event, city staff recommended that the budget be increased to $600,000 to accommodate needs for increased staffing, shuttles, vendors and planning.

The Irvine City Council voted 6-1 during their Wednesday night meeting to approve the budget increase. Councilmember Melinda Liu voted no.

City staff estimated that approximately 20,000 would attend the city’s first-ever Fourth of July event held at the Great Park in 2025. Instead, more than 40,000 people attended, overwhelming the parking lots, shuttle system and Irvine Police Department officers attempting to control traffic and crowds.

Some people experienced delays, long waits looking for parking and trouble getting in and out of the area. Traffic made some visitors late to the celebration, while others turned around before making it all the way inside.

[Read: Can Irvine’s Great Park Handle Large-Scale Events?]

The increased budget includes $255,500 for operations and logistics, $180,500 for programming and $124,000 for staffing needs.

Increased staffing is expected to include 32 police officers, seven sergeants and one lieutenant.

During the meeting, Liu said the increased budget was too much for her to support for an event that isn’t directly bringing services to residents.

“I’m frankly very much having sticker shock when I see the $600,000,” she said, “because it’s more than double what we spent last time.”

Other council members said the increase is worth it to create a safe and successful celebration, especially in a year that’s also celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“I can get my arms around an expenditure of this gravity,” Councilmember Mike Carroll said at the meeting. “Our vice mayor came forward with this thing last year, and it turned out to be a smashing success. Irvine was a victim of its own success in some ways … I’m really excited to see it move forward.”

Councilmembers James Mai and Betty Martinez Franco said they’re confident the city will be able to secure sponsorships to offset the cost, especially after seeing the success of this year’s celebration.

“Sponsors are going to be pouring in,” Martinez Franco said, “at least I’m hoping so.”

Going into only the second year of a city-sponsored Fourth of July celebration, support for the event is decreasing among some council members after seeing the increased costs.

Councilmember Kathleen Treseder said she supports next year’s event but may not support the event in future years due to the price tag.

“I just don’t see this being a feasible thing we can have every year,” Treseder said. “I’m happy to have it this next year and have it be really amazing and all that, but I think probably for future years I would hesitate to support this.”

Councilmembers are expected to continue discussing the Fourth of July event at the council’s first meeting in December.

Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.