About 6,000 to 10,000 revelers gather in their boats on a lake in Florida for the boozy Boca Bash on the last Sunday of April each year.
The party is an annual celebration on Lake Boca Raton, along Florida’s southeastern coast. The rave attracts people from near and far for the massive boating and drinking extravaganza.
The event sells no tickets, and guests are given few instructions – just show up, and remember a floaty.
The City of Boca Raton told Fox News Digital that it has no official involvement in putting on the party, but collaborates with community partners, like the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), to “ensure the safety of all attendees and protect our waterways.”
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Boaters gather on Lake Boca Raton for the Boca Bash on Sunday, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)
Throngs of people are seen boating, dancing and drinking during Boca Bash in Lake Boca Raton on Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Jennifer Lett/The Palm Beach Post/USA Today Network)
The Boca Bash began in 2007
According to the Palm Beach Post, the annual, spring break-like event in Boca Raton has always been held during the last week of April. It started in 2007, when party seekers showed up even though officials had canceled the event.
Since then, thousands of party animals have flocked to Lake Boca Raton’s shoulder-length deep waters.
Boca Bash drowning
The 2018 Boca Bash turned tragic when 32-year-old Francis Roselin, of West Palm Beach, drowned.
His friend, Strogoff Prevot, told WPTV in 2018 that their group had traveled to a sandbar. When Prevot turned around while swimming, Roselin had disappeared. Prevot swam back to the boat to look for Roselin while his friends found police officers and reported Roselin missing.
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Marine units, along with a police helicopter, Ocean Rescue and the Coast Guard, began a search, but they were unable to find the 32-year-old, police said.
Throngs of people are seen boating, dancing, and drinking during Boca Bash in Lake Boca in Boca Raton on Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Jennifer Lett/The Palm Beach Post / USA Today Network)
A swimmer later discovered Roselin at the bottom of the Intracoastal Waterway. The Boca Raton Police Department later announced that Roselin had drowned.
His girlfriend, Tamekia Rich, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Boca Raton, alleging negligence on the city’s part for failing to control the crowds and failing to provide adequate supervision of the water. The city countered, saying that it had not hosted the Boca Bash.
WATCH: Boca Bash revelers caught dumping trash in the water
Revelers caught on camera dumping trash in water
Viral drone footage in 2024 captured two teenagers, 15 and 16, hefting two trash bins filled with bottles and other plastics over the railing of their fishing vessel as they sped away from the boozy gathering on April 28, 2024.
As the boat of partiers zooms away into the choppy waters of the Boca Raton inlet, the video pans out to the spread of debris left floating in their wake. Footage from the front of the boat shows the teens waving and laughing.
The video prompted outrage and the Boca Bash’s Facebook page wrote that they were “angered and disturbed by these actions.”
“Once the video was posted, we quickly got to work with the community to discover who the owner of the boat was and who was on the vessel in this particular instance committing an egregious act,” they wrote.
A freeze frame from a YouTube video before Boca Bash partiers threw trash in the water. (Wavy Boats LLC)
The two teens turned themselves in to police and face third-degree felony charges for causing pollution “so as to harm or injure human health or welfare, animal, plant or aquatic life or property,” the Miami Herald reported.
One of the boy’s parents issued an emailed statement to The Palm Beach Post through a spokesperson.
“We take responsibility for caring for our oceans and our community very seriously, and we are extremely saddened by what occurred last weekend at Boca Bash,” the family wrote. “We want to extend our sincerest apologies to everyone who has been impacted and rightfully upset by what occurred.”
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Fox News’ Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.
