Kingston, Ont. braces for second weekend for large gatherings in University District

More street parties this weekend: it’s exactly what the City of Kingston and Kingston police don’t want to hear.

But popular YouTuber Jack Denmo has other plans. He’s been posting about a second round of this year’s homecoming parties in Kingston’s downtown.

“This means that, for the first time in history, Queen’s will be having two homecoming street parties,” Denmo said in a YouTube video.

The first, and ‘official’ homecoming weekend saw thousands of students and visitors forming large crowds in the university district.

Hundreds of fines were handed out by police as the result of alcohol-fuelled rowdy behaviour, flaunting of the mayor’s special enforcement order targeting nuisance partying and large gatherings.

Kingston police Chief Antje McNeely says the police presence will reflect the size of the crowds that may be coming.

“When you have a crowd of five to eight thousand people, or whatever that may look like, and you’ve got influencers bringing people to our community, you don’t know who’s all going to be coming here and you can’t just do enough, and our city expects us to do this,” Antje McNeely said.

For the second weekend in a row, Kingston Health Sciences Centre is urging those planning to attend a party to reconsider.

Both Kingston General Hospital and Hotel Dieu put plans in place to support an increase in patient demand.

2:50 Thousands partake in unsanctioned street parties during Queen’s University Homecoming weekend

“We staffed up the emergency department with nurses and doctors,” Executive Vice-President of Patient Care for KHSC Mike McDonald said.

“Generally during homecoming we’ve see a surge in intoxicated young people, so we’re opening up an area to manage those individuals and give them close observation.”

Utilities Kingston also released a statement urging partygoers to stay off rooftops, vehicles and trees, and away from power lines.

The University District was quiet Friday afternoon. But all indicators point to this being the calm before the storm, as plans for both parties and policing will be set in motion when the sun sets and the weekend begins.