A "Lightsaber Battle" held at Sue Bierman Park on Dec. 18th, the opening weekend of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, cost the city $5,200, according to SF's Recreation and Parks Department.

We noticed signs asking people to stay off of the grass due to lawn renovations and wondered why work was being done so close in advance to Super Bowl City activities. As we've reported, Sue Bierman Park is going to be the site of a concert stage hosting local and national acts; Alicia Keys will be the headliner on Feb. 6th.

Rec & Parks' Joey Kahn sent us an email saying, "The grass is not being reseeded. The area was closed due to damage from the unpermitted Light Saber Event that occurred a few weeks ago. Their unpermitted, for-profit event cost San Francisco taxpayers $5,220–$2,000 in damage to the turf and $3,220 for park rangers. No work will be done until after the Super Bowl and after the area dries sufficiently." 

According to a Facebook event page, 9,951 people attended battles within a 24-hour period at the park and four other cities, setting a world record. The page includes photos and videos from the event. One commenter even posted a photo of one of the "under renovation" signs on the grass. Many tweeted about the event while there:

Lightsaber Battle: uniting Star Wars and fencing enthusiasts alike @newmindspace #SF pic.twitter.com/8GcLwAV981

— Stephanie Luk (@stephieluk) December 19, 2015

We traced the event back to a company called Newmindspace and asked for comment. Cofounder Kevin Bracken sent us an email stating, "Newmindspace is a non-profit based in Canada and works with local, independent organizers, and the organizer for this particular event was Nikki Sparks. She misrepresented the permit situation in SF as well as in San Diego and we are not working with her on future events."

Sparks confirmed his account, sending us an email that read, "I organize fan and geek events and have never had a problem before. We usually just kinda show up and do our thing and we have never gotten in trouble." She added that Newmindspace was able to get a permit on short notice in San Diego.

Bracken added, "We will be personally supervising all of our future events instead of using our hub-and-spoke model. We look forward to putting on more free, fun, family-friendly activities around California and across the United States."

Newmindspace also promotes large-scale public pillow fights and bubble-blowing events in various cities. It does not, however, organize the annual Valentine's Day pillow fight here at Justin Herman Plaza. Bracken said all events are free (for the battle, lightsabers cost $5–$10, depending on when they were reserved), and this Lightsaber Battle did not yield a profit: "Between truck rental, rental of the pre-party venue in North Beach (the pre-party was also free), and the overnight air freight and the lightsabers themselves, this was definitely not a for-profit event."

Sparks also followed up with another email: "I'd also like to say that compared to the annual pillow fight in Justin Herman plaza this is nothing. Even in the pouring rain we stayed to clean up every little piece of plastic, cups, bottles, cans etc. The SF pillow fight people (not sure if there even really is an organizer anymore) just leave all the feathers and garbage there afterward and it's gross."

We asked Sparks and Bracken if either plan to reimburse the city for the $5,200. Bracken didn't reply to the question; Sparks wrote, "I do not plan on reimbursing the city. I pay taxes here and I feel like this cost way less than some of the annual parades they put on, and we were able to bring joy to 2,000 people, including parents and children."

 Sparks added: "I also have to wonder why they did not just leave the park as it was (honestly it was just a few muddy patches, the cost of renovation is entirely labor) because it is going to get completely wrecked by the Superbowl concert stage again, and they will have to re-sod it after that anyway."

We'll give you an update if Rec & Parks pursues reimbursement.