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…